Fatty Liver, Jaundice

Fatty Liver, Jaundice

Fatty liver, or hepatic steatosis, is a term that describes the buildup of fat in the liver. It’s normal to have small amounts of fat in your liver, but too much can become a health problem.

The liver is the second largest organ in the body. It’s responsible for a wide variety of functions, including processing everything we eat and drink, and filtering harmful substances from the blood. Too much fat in the liver can lead to long-term liver damage. View a BodyMap of the liver and learn more about its function.

Early stage fatty liver is diagnosed when the proportion of liver cells that contain fat is more than 5 percent. This is often diagnosed by looking at small samples taken from the liver under the microscope. Ultrasounds, CT scans, and MRI scans can also help evaluate the fat content of the liver.Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) Only a few people with simple fatty liver go on to develop stage 2 of the condition, called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). … Inflammation is the body’s healing response to damage or injury and, in this case, is a sign that liver cells have become damaged.NASH progresses to scarring and ultimately to cirrhosis, with all the complications of cirrhosis, for example, gastrointestinal bleeding, liver failure, and liver cancer. The development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is intimately associated with and is probably caused by obesity and diabetes.