Recurrent and de novo non-alcoholic steatohepatitis following orthotopic liver transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis was coined in 1980 to describe pathological and clinical features of non-alcoholic disease associated with pathological features, commonly seen in alcoholic-liver disease itself. It is now a well-recognised cause of end-stage liver disease and a rare cause of orthotopic liver transplantation. A small number of cases with recurrent non-alcoholic steatohepatitis following liver transplantation have been reported, however de novo non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in the liver allograft is not well recognised.
We report four cases of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis following orthotopic liver transplantation describing the factors related with the pathology. The recurrence of fatty infiltration occurred within 21 months and transition from mild steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and early fibrosis was observed within 60 months post transplant in all four patients. All four cases had association with one or multiples risk factors (obesity, type 2 diabetes and/or hyperlipidemia).


CONCLUSIONS
Management of this risk factors may play a therapeutic role in the prevention of recurrent and de novo non-alcoholic steatohepatitis following orthotopic liver transplantation.
Garcia
R F
RF
Liver Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, B15 2TH, UK. chrisev@uol.com.br
Morales
E
E
Garcia
C E
CE
Saksena
S
S
Hübscher
S G
SG
Elias
E
E
D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000473:pathology; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors