fatty liver---NASH/NAFLD

[Guest guest]

At 11:29 AM 31-12-05, you wrote:

>I've been told I has a small amount of " fatty liver " . What tests

>would indicate problems other than ultrasound, which had been done

>when I was told that? All of my regular liver blood panels are fine.

>Is there a blood test that my doctor should now be ordering to keep

>track of the fatty liver?

>

>My brother died from liver failure as a result of hepatitis from a

>blood transfusion so I'm always mindful of liver panels. Am I (or my

>doctors) missing something that I should be looking, asking for?

hi linda,

me too on the fatty liver. had it for years. as an ultrasound

technologist, i easily can say 40--50% of my patients have this.

if your blood work is fine, all i can suggest is a yearly ultrasound

and yearly blood work. your ALT and AST levels (liver enzymes, which

you just had done) are the key. and if AST/ALT are normal, your

liver is working well. a supplement such as silymarin (milk thistle) may help.

what you and i have is called NASH or NAFLD, Non-Alcoholic

SteatoHepatitis, or Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. ( " steato "

means fat). don't worry about the " hepatitis, " that just means liver

inflammation, and is not Hepatitis as in Hep B, C, etc.

here's a good article. you're probably already doing some, if not

all, of the treatment recommendations at the end of the article :-) :

http://www.anthc.org/cs/chs/hep/rec_nafld.cfm

hope this helps

kcd