Research advances in the serological diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the prevalence rate of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has increased significantly and NAFLD has gradually become one of the common chronic liver diseases in China. Patients with NAFLD-related end-stage or deteriorative liver diseases have become one of the main populations for liver transplantation. The increasing prevalence rate of NAFLD and the severe outcomes of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) make it necessary to use effective methods to identify NAFLD. Therefore, this article summarizes the current serological methods for the diagnosis of NAFLD, including steatosis, NASH, and liver fibrosis, and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. Although most of the serum markers have limited clinical value, serum marker models have a good application prospect in the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis, the evaluation of fibrosis degree, and preliminary screening. Since a combination of different serological models can improve the accuracy of diagnosis, multi-angle and multicenter joint diagnosis will be a research hotspot in the future.