Article Text
Leading article
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): where are we now and where are we going?
Abstract
Although non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was considered relatively uncommon prior to the middle of the last decade, over the past three years there has been an explosion of studies on various aspects of NASH with one study reporting that after hepatitis C, NASH was the most common diagnosis in patients presenting largely with persistent abnormalities of liver function tests. The field of NASH has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. This article considers advances in knowledge that have arisen as a result of these studies and highlights areas for further work.
- non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
- non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus
- fatty liver disease
- ALT, alanine transaminase
- AST aspartate transaminase
- BMI, body mass index
- FFA, free fatty acids
- NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
- NIDDM, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus
- ROS, reactive oxygen species