Recent Advances in the Assessment of Hepatic Steatosis

• Main Author: V.I. Didenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House Zaslavsky 2015-09-01
• Series: Gastroenterologìa
• Subjects: steatosis; core needle biopsy; methods of hepatic steatosis verification; ultrasound with WTrack function; elastometry with CAP™ function
• Online Access: http://gastro.zaslavsky.com.ua/article/view/81530

The article deals with a review of scientific works on the issue of hepatic steatosis verification. Nowadays, the problem of timely detection and treatment of chronic diffuse liver diseases, in the pathogenesis of which fibrosis and hepatic steatosis play key role, becomes more and more important. It is recognized that hepatic steatosis is characterized by the accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes exceeding 5 % of the liver mass. In recent years, special attention is paid to the methods for verification of hepatic steatosis, which can be divided into invasive, minimally invasive and non-invasive. Invasive methods are still relevant, they include liver core needle biopsy — the gold standard. Minimally invasive methods for hepatic steatosis verification are based on the biochemical study of venous blood. Minimally invasive methods can be conditionally divided into routine — triglycerides, total cholesterol, high density lipoproteins etc., and calculated coefficients: SteatoTest and others. Their results are calculated on the basis of several indicators. Non-invasive methods of verification include: ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, elastometry with CAP™function (Fibroscan, model 502). In our opinion, for verification of hepatic steatosis, it is promising to use the ultrasound with the option of measuring the parameters of arterial stiffness in the WТrack mode. Among the non-invasive methods of hepatic steatosis verification, liver elastometry using FibroScan-502-touch device with CAP™ function made a breakthrough in some specific sense. Opening possibilities for early detection of hepatic steatosis enable to place on timely preventive and therapeutic measures and to create the conditions for stopping the progression, and possibly for the regression of hepatic steatosis.