How Does Fatty Liver Affect The Liver?, Diagnosis – Dr. Amit Agrawal
What is fatty liver disease?
The largest organ in your body is the liver. It helps your body to digest food, store energy and remove poisons. The condition in which fat builds up in your liver is known as fatty liver.
There are two main types:
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) has 2 types
- Simple fatty liver, in this you have fat in your liver but little or no inflammation or liver cell damage.
- Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, in which you have inflammation and liver cell damage as well as fat in your liver.
2. Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (ALD)
This disease occurs due to heavy alcohol use. Alcohol fatty liver disease is the earliest stage of alcohol-related liver disease.
Diagnosis of Fatty Liver Disease
There are often no symptoms, it is difficult to find fatty liver disease. To make a diagnosis, your doctor may use different methods to find out if you are suffering from fatty liver disease.
Some of them are mentioned below:
- Health history
Your doctor will ask you about your alcohol consumption. This can help your doctor to find if it is ALD or NAFLD, so be honest. They will ask you about your routine and habits like medications you take, what you eat, and other health conditions.
- Physical Exam
The doctor checks your weight and your body signs of liver problems such as an enlarged liver or jaundice.
- Blood Tests
This test can show if you have high levels of liver enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase.
- Imaging Tests
You may get an ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI. These tests can tell if you have any fat in your liver. But it can’t tell whether you have simple fatty liver.
- Liver Biopsy
Everyone having NAFLD does not need to have a liver biopsy. Your doctor may recommend if you are at risk of NASH. The doctor takes out a sample of tissue from your liver and sends it to the lab to find out whether you have liver inflammation or not. A liver biopsy is the only method for doctors to diagnose NASH.
