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Clinical Predictors of Different Grades of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

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Abstract

Background

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the comorbidities related to obesity. Liver biopsy has been used as the “gold standard” for the diagnosis, grading, and prognosis of obese patients. The objective of the present study was to evaluate clinical predictors of more advanced stages of NAFLD.

Methods

In this retrospective study we assessed several physical and laboratorial factors, including some cytokines, in morbidly obese patients submitted to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass that could be related to the diagnosis and staging of NAFLD. Fragments of the livers were obtained from wedge biopsies during operation.

Results

The medical records of 259 patients were studied. The patients were divided into four groups: normal hepatic biopsy, steatosis, mild nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and moderate and severe NASH. There were no differences in cytokine levels among groups. The triglyceride levels were the only variable that could stratify the grades of NAFLD and also differentiate from normal livers in the female patients. Also in this group, the aminotransferases and GGT levels and fasting glucose were predictors of the more advanced stages of NASH, while BMI and weight were predictors of the more advanced stages of NASH in male patients.

Conclusions

There are no available markers in clinical practice to detect the initial stages of NAFLD. It is very important to perform a liver biopsy in all patients submitted to bariatric surgery and in obese patients with no indication to be operated in the presence of elevated blood levels of aminotransferases, GGT, and fasting glucose.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Anatomy, University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, R Antônio Chiericato, 760, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 14096 510, Brazil

    Wilson Salgado Júnior

  2. Division of Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, R Antônio Chiericato, 760, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 14096 510, Brazil

    Carla Barbosa Nonino-Borges

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  1. Wilson Salgado Júnior
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  2. Carla Barbosa Nonino-Borges
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Correspondence to Wilson Salgado Júnior.

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Júnior, W.S., Nonino-Borges, C.B. Clinical Predictors of Different Grades of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. OBES SURG 22, 248–252 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-011-0438-6

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