Post Date December, 02 2023
Fatty liver refers to a disease in which excessive accumulation of fat in liver cells is caused by various reasons. The incidence rate has risen rapidly in recent years, becoming the second largest liver disease after viral hepatitis, which is seriously threatening the health of men.
"The liver is closely related to the metabolism of lipid substances, maintaining a dynamic balance in the processes of fat digestion, absorption, oxidation, transformation, and secretion. If for various reasons, the liver's fat metabolic function is impaired, resulting in an imbalance in the balance of lipid substances, and fat is stored in tissue cells, with a storage amount exceeding 5% of the liver weight, or more than 50% of the liver cells are histologically fatty, it can be called fatty liver.".
A middle-aged man who never dieted, weighed more than 25% above the standard weight, and had a large stomach felt good about himself. During the physical examination, the doctor told him that he had moderate fatty liver disease and that his intake of fat, protein, and carbohydrates should be controlled. "This gentleman didn't believe it until the laboratory report came out, which surprised him. His triglycerides and cholesterol were significantly increased, and his transaminase had also slightly increased.".
During the physical examination, many people who consider themselves healthy walked into the "B-ultrasound" room and presented a report with the following conclusion: "The liver echo increased in the front and decreased significantly in the rear." The diagnosis column was prominently marked with the words "fatty liver".
According to experts, fatty liver is not an independent disease, which can be divided into 6 types according to the etiology. The most common one should be nutritional imbalance fatty liver. Both excessive and insufficient nutrition can lead to fatty liver, which can occur in approximately half of obese individuals. The accumulation of fat in the body is proportional to body weight. With the improvement of living standards and the increase in the number of obese people, the number of people suffering from such fatty liver disease has also increased significantly.
Mild fatty liver can have no symptoms, while moderate or severe fatty liver disease can cause liver enlargement, pain, or tenderness. However, the pathological changes in the liver caused by it are not optimistic. Liver examination showed that fatty degeneration, proliferation of fibrous tissue around the portal region, and cholestasis were present to varying degrees. The main fatty acids in the liver were triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesterol. Laboratory examination showed that the above three items were likely to increase. At the same time, there may be elevated serum alkaline phosphatase and transaminase. Severe fatty liver disease may also appear as mild hyperbilirubinemia, bilirubinuria, and elevated urinary cholangiogen Inverted ratio of albumin to globulin, prolonged thrombin time, etc.
The important reason for alcoholic fatty liver disease due to excessive alcohol consumption is related to the toxic effect of alcohol on liver cells. Although patients with chronic alcoholic fatty liver disease appear to be obese, anemia, glossitis, peripheral neuritis, and neurological symptoms are present to varying degrees.
In diabetes patients, especially obese diabetes can induce fatty liver rate as high as 50-80%, so active treatment of diabetes is also the best plan to prevent fatty liver. In addition, there are many cases of fatty liver caused by the lack and use of various hormones, as well as liver cell poisoning and damage after small intestinal surgery.
(Intern Editor: Lin Yanjuan)
