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New index for the reliable diagnosis of fatty liver disease
Liver diseases are nowadays a relatively widespread complaint, whereby in particular the massive consumption of alcohol was for a long time rated as a decisive factor. However, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has also become a global epidemic, reports the German Center for Diabetes Research. A reliable prediction of the disease will be made possible by a new index developed by scientists at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) in Tübingen and Potsdam.
Worldwide, there is not only great interest in understanding the causes and consequences of fatty liver disease, but also to enable early diagnosis, the scientists report. For this purpose, the research team headed by Prof. Norbert Stefan from the University of Tübingen has now generated a new index from clinical data. This can predict the presence of a fatty liver disease with high accuracy, according to the DZD.
A new index will significantly improve the diagnosis of fatty liver disease in the future. (Image: magicmine / fotolia.com) Fatty liver disease with severe consequences
According to the experts, about every third adult in the industrialized countries has a liver that has been fatally diseased. Patients not only have an increased risk of developing advanced liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, but also develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. To be able to intervene early with preventive and therapeutic measures, the fatty liver must be recognized in time, the experts emphasize.
Previous diagnostic methods insufficient
According to the researchers, the ultrasound examination of the liver and the determination of the liver values are possible diagnostic methods. However, they can usually only diagnose fatty liver at an advanced stage. Although more complex examinations, such as nuclear spin spectroscopy, are more informative, they can not be used on a broad scale because of the relatively high costs in clinical practice.
Index for early diagnosis
Scientists worldwide are working on simple and accurate methods for the diagnosis of fatty liver disease. So far, in particular, the so-called "Fatty Liver Index" (FLI), consisting of the parameters of age, body mass index, waist circumference and in the fasting state in the blood measured values for triglycerides (TG) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) , as proven quite effective, the researchers report.
Significantly improved accuracy
The scientists from Tübingen and their colleagues from Hamburg and Italy have now developed an improved FLI. For this purpose, the TG and glucose values from an oral glucose tolerance test at the time two hours after ingestion of glucose had been taken into account as additional parameters. The most important gene variant for fatty liver disease (rs738409 C> G in PNPLA3) is also included in the new index. The researchers were able to show that this new and expanded fatty liver index not only helps to diagnose fatty liver disease better than the well-known FLI, but also to predict more accurately the likelihood of losing liver fat during a lifestyle intervention, "reports the DZD.
Use in everyday clinical practice
The researchers hope that in the future, the expanded "index is increasingly used in everyday clinical practice to diagnose fatty liver disease early" and "so that subsequent diseases of fatty liver can be prevented." In addition to the scientists of the University Hospital Tübingen also involved researchers of the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Institute for Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIfE). (Fp)