Fatty liver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Fatty liver**
*Classification & external resources*
ICD-10	K 70., K 76.0
ICD-9	571.0, 571.8
DiseasesDB	18844
eMedicine	med/775
MeSH	C06.552.241

Fatty liver (also known as steatorrhoeic hepatosis or steatosis hepatis) is a reversible condition where large vacuoles of triglyceride fat accumulate in liver cells via the process of steatosis. It may be caused by various diseases, including chronic alcoholism and obesity, as well as a number of chemicals and drugs.

1 Causes
2 Pathology
3 Treatment and prevention
4 External links

[edit] Causes

Fatty liver can occur in diabetes mellitus and in pregnancy (acute fatty liver of pregnancy). It can also be seen both in starvation (especially rapid weight loss) and in obesity. In addition, it is also a minor symptom of hepatitis that may indicate progression to cirrhosis.

[edit] Pathology

Fatty change represents the intracytoplasmic accumulation of triglyceride (neutral fats). At the beginning, the hepatocytes present small fat vacuoles (liposomes) around the nucleus - microvesicular fatty change. In the late stages, the size of the vacuoles increases pushing the nucleus to the periphery of the cell - macrovesicular fatty change. These vesicles are well delineated and optically "empty" because fats solves during tissue processing. Large vacuoles may coalesce, producing fatty cysts - which are irrevesible lesions. [1]

Severe fatty liver is accompanied by inflammation, a situation that is referred to as steatohepatitis. The degree of inflammation is related to its progression to more severe forms of liver disease, ultimately cirrhosis. If this occurs in a non-alcoholic patient without viral liver disease, the condition is termed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.