Many people neglect fatty liver disease, which in the initial phase does not give symptoms, but over time can develop into increasingly serious chronic diseases.
Better not to overlook the fat liver, an increasingly widespread disorder also in Italy. It does not give symptoms, it does not create problems for those who suffer from it and in most cases it is found during tests requested for other reasons by the family doctor or by specialists such as the diabetologist or the cardiologist. However, the accumulation of fat in the liver is the starting point of a very dangerous path: it can in fact evolve into inflammation (steatohepatitis) and fibrosis, which can lead to the development of liver cirrhosis and eventually a a liver tumor. One also confirms it research just published on Chinese Medical Journal
in which the scholars of the Wenzhou Medical University have reconstructed and analyzed the many factors that can lead from the initial situation of apparent normality to the formation of a neoplasm.
The causes
The mechanism behind the hepatic steatosis (more commonly known as fatty liver) insulin resistance, which is an increased resistance by the body to the action of insulin, a problem associated with the development of diabetes, obesity, arterial hypertension and atherosclerosis. And the Chinese study highlights how, over the years, cancer is reached through various other degenerative phenomena that are linked in the liver. Hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) are the leading causes of liver cancer globally. In Italy, over 70% of cases of primary liver tumors can be traced back to known risk factors, primarily related to the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection. A series of causes (including: hepatitis B and C virus infections , alcohol abuse, genetic and autoimmune diseases, diabetes, obesity) can induce persistent liver damage – explains Stefano Cascinu, head of the Oncological Medicine Unit of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milan -. These “chronic liver diseases” often worsen over the years resulting in cirrhosis of the liver, a severe disease that over time can induce a deficit in organ function (hepatic decompensation) and predispose to the onset of carcinoma. Here’s why periodic checks for patients with chronic liver disease they are very important.
Prevention
Unfortunately for the awareness of the damage from fat accumulated on the liver poor and since the organ suffers in silence and it only makes itself felt when very compromised, many people ignore for a long time that they have problems. As Chinese scientists also point out, recognizing steatopathies and treating fatty liver is an important step. The easy remedy because it is based above all on movement and disposal of excess pounds, although it should be borne in mind that even those who are thin may not be free from the accumulation of fat in the liver: 15-20% of those with hepatic steatosis have a normal body mass index. In these cases the waistline is often the key clue: if large, fat is likely to have accumulated on the liver. Even hepatocarcinoma does not show evident signs of its presence so only 10 percent of cases diagnosed in the initial phase when the surgery can be decisive – concludes Cascinu -. For this reason the cure rates are still low e only a fifth of patients live five years after diagnosisbut it can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle and vaccination against hepatitis: overweight, cirrhosis, hepatitis and smoking are the culprits in almost all cases.
February 15, 2022 (change February 15, 2022 | 19:41)
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