Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Updates in noninvasive diagnosis and correlation with cardiovascular disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to the accumulation of fat (mainly triglycerides) within hepatocytes. Approximately 20%-30% of adults in the general population in developed countries have NAFLD; this trend is increasing because of the pandemicity of obesity and diabetes, and is becoming a serious public health burden. Twenty percent of individuals with NAFLD develop chronic hepatic inflammation [nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)], which can be associated with the development of cirrhosis, portal hypertension, and hepatocellular carcinoma in a minority of patients. And thus, the detection and diagnosis of NAFLD is important for general practitioners. Liver biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosing NAFLD and confirming the presence of NASH. However, the invasiveness of this procedure limits its application to screening the general population or patients with contraindications for liver biopsy. The development of noninvasive diagnostic methods for NAFLD is of paramount importance. This review focuses on the updates of noninvasive diagnosis of NAFLD. Besides, we review clinical evidence supporting a strong association between NAFLD and the risk of cardiovascular disease because of the cross link between these two disorders. (C) 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.