Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Extra Hepatic Malignancies |Biomedgrid

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease, its prevalence reaches 25 % in adults and about 10% in children (1-3). The prevalence of nonobese NAFLD ranged from 25% or less in some countries to higher than 50% in others (4). NAFLD's disease spectrum varies from non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the most dangerous form with its complications of hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (5,6). The existence of steatohepatitis and severe fibrosis are considered indicators of undesirable outcomes in patients with NAFLD and are associated with an increased risk for morbi-mortality by hepatic and extra hepatic complications (7,8). In decreasing order, mortality in NAFLD patients is due, first, to cardiovascular events and, second, to gastrointestinal (liver, intestine, esophagus, stomach, and pancreas) and extraintestinal (kidney in men and breast in women) malignancies, while end-stage liver disease represents the third cause of death (8,9). The hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (Mets) is generally considered the NAFLD, and a remarkable body of literature shows an enhanced cancer risk in Mets subjects, especially in the gastrointestinal tract. In this environment, NAFLD may either express similar risk factors (i.e., obesity and millets diabetes).