| 1. |
- Ekstedt, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
-
Alcohol consumption is associated with progression of hepatic fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0036-5521 .- 1502-7708. ; 44:3, s. 366-374
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Moderate alcohol consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with cardiovascular disease and total mortality. The importance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing and many NAFLD patients suffer from cardiovascular disease. In these patients, moderate alcohol consumption could be beneficial. The aim of this study was to investigate whether low alcohol intake, consistent with the diagnosis of NAFLD, is associated with fibrosis progression in established NAFLD. Material and methods: Seventy-one patients originally referred because of chronically elevated liver enzymes and diagnosed with biopsy-proven NAFLD were re-evaluated. A validated questionnaire combined with an oral interview was used to assess weekly alcohol consumption and the frequency of episodic drinking. Significant fibrosis progression in NAFLD was defined as progression of more than one fibrosis stage or development of endstage liver disease during follow-up. Results: Mean follow-up (SD) was 13.8 (1.2) years between liver biopsies. At follow-up, 17 patients (24%) fulfilled the criteria for significant fibrosis progression. The proportion of patients reporting heavy episodic drinking at least once a month was higher among those with significant fibrosis progression (p=0.003) and a trend towards higher weekly alcohol consumption was also seen (p=0.061). In a multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, heavy episodic drinking (p0.001) and insulin resistance (p0.01) were independently associated with significant fibrosis progression. Conclusions: Moderate alcohol consumption, consistent with the diagnosis of NAFLD to be set, is associated with fibrosis progression in NAFLD. These patients should be advised to refrain from heavy episodic drinking.
|
|
| 2. |
- Ekstedt, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
-
Long-term follow-up of patients with NAFLD and elevated liver enzymes.
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Hepatology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0270-9139 .- 1527-3350. ; 44:4, s. 865-873
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of elevated liver enzymes in patients of developed countries. We determined the long-term clinical and histological courses of such patients. In a cohort study, 129 consecutively enrolled patients diagnosed with biopsy-proven NAFLD were reevaluated. Survival and causes of death were compared with a matched reference population. Living NAFLD patients were offered repeat liver biopsy and clinical and biochemical investigation. Mean follow-up (SD) was 13.7 (1.3) years. Mortality was not increased in patients with steatosis. Survival of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was reduced (P = .01). These subjects more often died from cardiovascular (P = .04) and liver-related (P = .04) causes. Seven patients (5.4%) developed end-stage liver disease, including 3 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The absence of periportal fibrosis at baseline had a negative predictive value of 100% in predicting liver-related complications. At follow-up, 69 of 88 patients had diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. Progression of liver fibrosis occurred in 41%. These subjects more often had a weight gain exceeding 5 kg (P = .02), they were more insulin resistant (P = .04), and they exhibited more pronounced hepatic fatty infiltration (P = .03) at follow-up. In conclusion, NAFLD with elevated liver enzymes is associated with a clinically significant risk of developing end-stage liver disease. Survival is lower in patients with NASH. Most NAFLD patients will develop diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance in the long term. Progression of liver fibrosis is associated with more pronounced insulin resistance and significant weight gain.
|
|
| 3. |
- Ekstedt, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
-
Low clinical relevance of the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score (NAS) in predicting fibrosis progression
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. - : Informa Healthcare. - 0036-5521 .- 1502-7708. ; 47:1, s. 108-115
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background/Aims. The nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score (NAS) is a newly proposed system to grade the necroinflammatory activity in liver biopsies of NAFLD patients. This study evaluates the usefulness of the NAS in predicting clinical deterioration and fibrosis progression in NAFLD. Methods. One hundred and twenty-nine patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD were included in a long-term histological follow-up study. Clinical course and change in fibrosis stage were compared between nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), “borderline NASH,” and “not NASH” patients. Significant fibrosis progression was defined as progression of more than one fibrosis stage or development of end-stage liver disease during follow-up. Results. Eighty-eight patients accepted reevaluation and 68 underwent repeat liver biopsy. Mean time between biopsies was 13.8 ± 1.2 years (range 10.3–16.3). At baseline, NASH was diagnosed in 2 (1.6%) patients, and at follow-up, in 1 (1.5%) patient. A trend toward higher baseline NAS was seen in patients (n = 7) who developed end-stage liver disease (3.1 ± 0.9 vs. 2.2 ± 1.0; p = 0.050). Baseline NAS was associated with progressive disease in a univariate binary logistic regression analysis (p = 0.024), but no difference was seen in the multivariate analysis including the NAS, portal inflammation, and perisinusoidal fibrosis. Moreover, 18% of patients without NASH progressed significantly in fibrosis stage. Conclusions. The ability of the NAS to predict progression of NAFLD is poor. The clinical usefulness of the score is limited due to the significant overlap in clinical development between NAS score groups. To use the NAS as endpoint in treatment trial is not justified.
|
|
| 4. |
- Ekstedt, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
-
Statins in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronically elevated liver enzymes : a histopathological follow-up study.
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Journal of Hepatology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-8278 .- 1600-0641. ; 47:1, s. 135-141
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background/Aims: The effect of statins on hepatic histology in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is not known. This study explores hepatic histology in NAFLD patients before and after initiation of statin therapy and compares histological outcome with NAFLD patients who had not been prescribed statins. Methods: Sixty-eight NAFLD patients were re-evaluated. Follow-up ranged from 10.3 to 16.3 years. Subjects were clinically investigated and a repeat liver biopsy was obtained. No patient was taking statins at baseline while 17 patients were treated with statins at follow-up. Results: At baseline, patients that later were prescribed statins had significantly higher BMI and more pronounced hepatic steatosis. At follow-up patients on medication with statins continued to have significantly higher BMI. Diabetes was significantly more common among patients on medication with statins and they had significantly more pronounced insulin resistance. However, they exhibited a significant reduction of liver steatosis at follow-up as opposed to patients not taking statins. Despite exhibiting a high risk profile for progression of liver fibrosis, only four patients on statin treatment progressed in fibrosis stage. Conclusions: Statins can be prescribed in patients with elevated liver enzymes because of NAFLD.
|
|
| 5. |
- Ekstedt, Mattias, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
The clinical relevance of the Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Activity Score (NAS) in predicting fibrosis progression
- 2008
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Objective: The NAFLD activity score (NAS) is a newly proposed system to grade the necroinflammatory activity in liver biopsies of NAFLD patients. This study evaluates the usefulness of the NAS in predicting clinical deterioration and fibrosis progression in NAFLD. Methods: One hundred and twenty-nine patients with biopsy proven NAFLD were included in a long-term histological follow-up study. Clinical and histological course were compared between NASH, “borderline NASH”, and “not NASH” patients. Significant fibrosis progression in NAFLD was defined as progression of more than one fibrosis stage or development of end-stage liver disease during follow-up. Results: Eighty-eight patients accepted re-evaluation and 68 underwent repeat liver biopsy. Mean time between biopsies was 13.8 ± 1.2 years (range 10.3-16.3). At baseline, NASH was diagnosed in 2 (1.6%) patients, and at follow-up, in 1 (1.5%) patient. A trend towards higher baseline NAS was seen in patients (n = 7) that developed end-stage liver disease (3.1 ± 0.9 vs. 2.4 ± 1.0; P = 0.062). Baseline NAS was significantly higher in patients with progressive fibrosis (2.9 ± 0.9 vs. 2.2 ± 0.9; P = 0.017), and NAS was independently associated with significant fibrosis progression tested in a multivariate analysis (P = 0.023). However, 18% of patients without NASH progressed significantly in fibrosis stage. Conclusion: Although the NAS is independently associated with future risk of progressive fibrosis in NAFLD, the clinical usefulness of the score is limited due to the significant overlap in clinical development between NAS-score groups.
|
|
| 6. |
- Franzén, Lennart E, et al.
(författare)
-
Semiquantitative evaluation overestimates the degree of steatosis in liver biopsies : a comparison to stereological point counting.
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Modern Pathology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0893-3952 .- 1530-0285. ; 18:7, s. 912-916
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The degree of steatosis in liver biopsies is usually assessed by a morphological semiquantitative approach in which the histopathologist uses a four-graded scale: 0-3 or none, slight, moderate and severe. Scores 1-3 are considered to correspond to fat deposition in <33, 33-66 and >66% of the hepatocytes. There is a considerable inter- and intra-individual variation in such scoring methods and a more standardized and quantitative approach is preferable. In the present study, we compare the semiquantitative technique with the stereological point counting method in the assessment of hepatic steatosis. A total of 75 archived liver needle biopsies were used. They were selected according to the original routine diagnosis of slight, moderate or severe steatosis. In all, 10 randomly selected images from each biopsy were digitized into a computer, a point grid lattice was superimposed and the number of hits on fat globules was counted. A pathologist scored the specimens in a four-graded scale as described above. The mean liver biopsy area (volume) with fat in hepatocytes was 2.2% for grade 1, 9.2% for grade 2 and 23.1% for grade 3. The kappa value for the semiquantitative estimates was 0.71 for the unweigthed kappa and 0.87 for weighted kappa. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.99 for images counted twice and 0.95 when two sets of images were captured from the same biopsy. These ICCs indicate excellent agreement and above that of the semiquantitative estimates. In conclusion, the area/volume of fat content of the hepatocytes is greatly overemphasized in semiquantitative estimation. Furthermore, the point counting technique has a better reproducibility than visual evaluation and should be preferred in estimates of liver steatosis in scientific studies and in clinical contexts when the amount of steatosis is important for treatment and prognosis, such as liver transplantation.
|
|
