Pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a spectrum of disease ranging from hepatocellular steatosis through steatohepatitis to fibrosis and irreversible cirrhosis. The prevalence of NAFLD has risen rapidly in parallel with the dramatic rise in obesity and diabetes, and is rapidly becoming the most common cause of liver disease in Western countries. Indeed, NAFLD is now recognized to be the aetiology in many cases previously labelled as cryptogenic cirrhosis.