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Disease Analysis: Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a spectrum of patients who have fatty liver in the absence of significant alcohol consumption. NAFLD patients are often segmented into non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients. NAFLD diagnosis requires evidence of hepatic steatosis and lack of secondary causes of liver fat accumulation such as substantial alcohol consumption, long-term use of a steatogenic medicine, or monogenic hereditary disorders. NASH is defined as the presence of >5% hepatic steatosis and inflammation with hepatocyte injury, with or without fibrosis. Although the presence of fibrosis is not required for a diagnosis of NASH, fibrosis is present in over 80% of NASH patients. For this reason, NASH patients are often further segmented by their fibrosis stage.