Work Up of Fatty Liver by Primary Care Physicians, Review

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an overarching term that refers to abnormal deposition of lipids in the liver and is used to describe the spectrum of disease ranging from hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis to cirrhosis. NAFLD is the most common cause of chronic liver disease and the second most common cause of cirrhosis. Although the pathophysiology is not completely understood, there is a strong link between NAFLD and metabolic syndrome. This review focuses on the workup of NAFLD in the primary care setting, from differential diagnoses to assessing fibrosis via predictive models that use commonly used laboratory values, biomarkers, and imaging. The purpose of this review article is to provide a set of screening and diagnostic tools for all primary care physicians in order to better manage patients with NAFLD.