Silent liver disease

By 2030, hepatic steatosis is estimated to be the leading cause of liver transplantation worldwide and is currently the leading cause of chronic disease.

Unfortunately, liver steatosis, formerly known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, It does not cause pain and when the patient starts having symptoms it is already too late, so it is important to raise awareness about this condition.

The disease has a prevalence of 30% worldwide, and in Latin America this percentage may be higher, since there are not many studies covering all countries in this region; in addition, some people are more likely to get it.

Blanca Lizaola-Mayo, Medical Director Mayo Clinic Liver Transplant Center in Arizonalisted insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity as risk factors, so if you have patients with these conditions plus high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and other metabolic-related comorbidities, there is a higher risk of developing steatotic liver disease.

Lizaola-Mayo explained that the disease can always try to reverse and when it is identified before there is cirrhosis, which is also known as end-stage liver disease.

In this liver tissue diseases It is replaced by fat, and its accumulation causes inflammation, cell death and scarring (steatohepatitis), and if left untreated, it can progress to liver fibrosis, and in the worst case, cirrhosis.

Stages one, two and three fibrosis are reversible, however doctor’s concern It increases when the patient is in stage two or develops stage two, since when stage four or terminal liver disease occurs, it is no longer possible to repair the damage.

“So it is important to be able to identify these patients when they are in the first stage three stages in order to be able to treat them and the treatment of this disease is through weight loss and really changing and modifying the way we eat and the way we exercise,” Lizaola-Mayo said.

In general, in the consultation, the specialist recommends her patients lose between 7% and 10% weight one has at that moment, that percentage has been shown to help reverse and remove the fat and fibrosis that exists in the liver.

Today there are many highly processed foods sugar and fat, Therefore, you should avoid them in order to lose weight.