The Diagnosis Of Advanced Liver Fibrosis Of NAFLD

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is the most common chronic liver disease,the prevalence is increasing in China,western countries and all over the world in recent years.The pathological changes of NAFLD can be developed from simple fatty liver to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis,and can lead to severe end-stage liver disease such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.Advanced liver fibrosis(stage F3)and cirrhosis(stage F4)have the chance developing into hepatocellular carcinoma,cardiovascular disease,chronic kidney disease and esophageal varices,should be monitoring for a long time.Liver disease and fibrosis are often unrecognized in patients with NAFLD,possibly leading to a delayed diagnosis of complications.The early diagnosis of advanced fibrosis in NAFLD is therefore crucial,and it can be accomplished using serum biomarkers(e.g,the NAFLD Fibrosis Score,Fib-4 Index or BARD)or non-invasive imaging techniques(transient elastography).Through screening high-risk patients,such as obesity,type 2 diabetes mellitus and other patients,these noninvasive diagnostic methods can detect advanced fibrosis at early stage.While low risk population can reduce the necessity of liver biopsy through screening.Therefore,it is necessary for us to domore and develop a simple,safe,reproducible and noninvasive diagnostic scoring standard to screen NAFLD patients who need liver biopsy.