The liver, the largest organ in the body, provides more than 100 vital functions. With this feature, any problem that occurs in the liver, which is defined as the factory of the body, can also cause life-threatening. Among these tables, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, also called NASH, or non-alcoholic liver inflammation, causes liver failure, causing patients to need organ transplantation to live. Memorial Şişli Hospital Organ Transplant Center President Prof. Dr. Koray Acarlı gave information about the dangers of fatty liver during the "November 3-9 Organ Donation Week".
Beware of excess weight!
Fatty liver is a condition that has been known for a long time, but is not considered very important, but can cause a life-threatening condition if precautions are not taken. Not every fatty liver may be serious. In some of the patients with fatty liver, the fatty liver damages the liver cells and some increases are observed in the parameters that show liver health in laboratory tests. In advanced examinations such as biopsy, swelling and deterioration in liver cells can be clearly detected. This indicates that a war has begun in the liver that should not have happened. Fatty liver can be seen in every person and it has been clearly shown that the risk increases with the increase of weight, that is, the Body Mass Index (BMI). Scientific studies have revealed striking data on this subject. While adiposity was 15% in people without weight problems, NASH was found to be 3%. In those with Class 1 and 2 obese (BMI: 30-39,9), the rate of adiposity was 65% and the NASH rate increased to 20%. While the rate of adiposity is 40% in overweight (BMI >85) people, the incidence of NASH reaches 40%.
Based on these examples, fatty liver is closely related to weight. On the other hand, being overweight, that is, obesity, is a serious problem that concerns the whole world today. Calculations show that 2030 million people will be overweight in 573. With just a simple calculation, the point at which weight and therefore fatty liver diseases (NASH) will reach is frightening.
Can NASH be prevented?
Although there is no standard treatment for NASH, it is aimed to reduce adiposity with different drugs and their combination and to prevent the negative effects of this condition on the liver. However, there is no accepted standard treatment for this issue yet. Instead, it is recommended that people with fat change their lifestyles, eat healthy, lose weight and exercise regularly. The biggest handicap at this point is weight. Studies show that obesity surgeries (bariatric surgery) performed on overweight people are one of the most effective methods for weight loss and weight maintenance, can also reduce fat in the liver and reverse some damage. However, these methods are applied to individuals who are overweight. There is a need for more serious controlled scientific studies and data to use these methods in order to regress liver problems in lower weight patients.
Fatty liver is a candidate for the throne of hepatitis C in transplant reasons
Today, liver diseases caused by obesity-related fatty liver in Western countries, especially in the United States, go head-to-head with the damage caused by Hepatitis C. Almost all liver diseases due to fatty liver are about to take over the throne of Hepatitis C. It is possible for a person to develop both hepatitis C or hepatitis B and the metabolic syndrome. This can cause much more serious tables.
If liver fat is not intervened, cirrhosis may occur.
If fatty liver cannot be combated, patients may develop cirrhosis and liver cancer. At this point, liver transplantation comes into play. Living donor transplants can be performed more easily on people of normal weight. Because the liver taken from the donor may not be enough for obese or overweight patients. 1263 patients were transplanted in one year at the Memorial Şişli Hospital Organ Transplantation Center. 416 of them are pediatric patients. The one-year survival rate for all patients is 85.8 percent, and the 10-year survival rate is 73 percent. The remarkable point in adults is that 6.4 percent, 54 of them, were transplanted due to cirrhosis due to fatty liver. 43 of these patients are male and 11 are female. The weight of 54 of 14 patients was between 90-110. However, there are also overweight patients. 6 of them were transplanted from cadavers. It was observed that diabetes accompanied health problems in this patient group. These figures point to a really important point in terms of overweight and organ failure.
Maintain your ideal weight for your liver health
It is important for the society to be conscious and careful about fatty liver disease in general. Awareness studies on this issue should be increased. If the end point is reached due to fatty liver, liver transplantation is the first method to be applied. Since no drug or method has yet been developed to combat fatty liver disease, the necessity of taking personal precautions comes to the fore. Eating healthy, exercising regularly and maintaining an ideal weight are very important to prevent fatty liver disease.
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