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Tackling the Epidemic of Fatty Liver Disease
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As the epidemic of obesity rises in the United States and around the world, it may not be surprising to the gastroenterologist that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease owns the title of most common liver disease in the Western world.
Yet, much like obesity, there is little that physicians feel they can do to mitigate the epidemic of NAFLD. There is no approved treatment and even diagnosis is difficult at times. In this month’s cover story, our experts address the known treatment options, those in the pipeline and the ongoing search for a way to control the epidemic.
“With the growing epidemic of obesity and the metabolic syndrome in the U.S., NAFLD is most certainly on the rise. At the rate of increasing disease prevalence and growing awareness of NAFLD, as well as the advent of very effective medications for the treatment of hepatitis C, NASH will most likely be the leading cause of cirrhosis, HCC and liver transplantation in the U.S. in 15 years,” Lee F. Peng, MD, PhD, said.
Additionally, Pankaj Jay Pasricha, MD, past chair of the AGA’s Center for GI Innovation and Technology, gives his perspective on the recent approvals of intragastric balloons. These balloons are a new entry for gastroenterologists to the battle against obesity and, perhaps, down the line, NAFLD.
“As gastroenterologists get into this space, even further innovations can be expected, setting up a virtuous cycle of iterative progress,” he said.
Keep tabs on other progress in industry trends, drug and device development and research. Your interactions with our content online will continue to shape our print content. As long as our readers keep talking, we’ll keep listening with every headline we write.
The Editors Healio Gastroenterology gastroenterology@slackinc.com