A clinical and biochemical profile of biopsy-proven non-alcoholic Fatty liver disease subjects.
OBJECTIVE
To describe clinical and biochemical features of patients with biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).


METHODS
Case-series.


METHODS
Medical Unit of Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi, from July 2005 to July 2006.


METHODS
Fifty patients of either and of all ages were included, who had ultrasound evidence of fatty liver, deranged liver enzymes, and negative history of alcohol uptake. Serological/biochemical tests/markers of other liver diseases were negative. Each subject underwent liver biopsy reported by a single histopathologist. Clinical (symptoms, hypertension, hepatomegaly, and obesity) and biochemical evaluation (for diabetes, lipid abnormalities, and aspartate to alanine aminotransferase ratio [AST/ALT]) of each subject was done. Chi-square and t-tests were used for p-value calculation for finding significant difference between fatty liver and non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis groups.


RESULTS
Thirty three (66%) patients were female and 34% were male. Mean age was 45.50 +/- 11.50 years. Histopathologically, 62% subjects had fatty liver alone, while 38% had nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Fatigue (100%), hypertriglyceridemia (80%), hepatomegaly (72%), AST/ALT ratio < 1 (72%), and obesity/overweight (54%) were common NAFLD-related features. Except for hypertriglycedemia (p-value 0.008), no statistically significant association was noted between these features and histopathological subtypes of NAFLD.


CONCLUSIONS
NAFLD-related clinical and biochemical features included fatigue, obesity, hepatomegaly, AST/ALT ratio<1, and hypertriglycedemia. Significant relationship existed between hypertriglyceridemia and NASH.
Khurram
Muhammad
M
Department of Medicine, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi.
Ashraf
Mian M
MM