Guest Editor(s)
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- Stefano Bellentani, MD, PhD
- Independent Consultant Hepatologist and Gastroenterologist Studio Gastro Lugano/Chiasso and Ambulatorio Medico Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland; Fondazione Italiana Fegato (FIF) Trieste, Italy.
Website | E-mail
Special Issue Introduction
Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease (NAFLD) is an emerging chronic liver disease correlated to insulin resistance and dysmetabolic disease worldwide. The global epidemiology is almost well-designed as far as concerning the prevalence but not for the incidence and the natural history. NAFLD/NASH (non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis) is the second indication for liver transplant in USA nowadays. We know that the liver-correlated cause of mortality of patients with NAFLD is only the third leading cause of death, the first cause is cardiovascular diseases and the second is colonic cancer in men and breast cancer in women.
The scientific community still does not have in his hands all the appropriate tools to make a correct non-invasive diagnosis to identify patients with NAFLD who can evolve in NASH or to understand who is going to progress more or less rapidly towards fibrosis/cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or towards cardiovascular disease or cancer.
A lot of work must be still done both in the definition and classification of NAFLD and NASH and in identifying patients at risk to evolve towards a more aggressive form of liver disease or to die. Surveillance policy for population at risk is not yet applicable in the real practice. Finally, no effective treatments are still on the market even if more than 250 clinical trials on new drugs are ongoing worldwide.
In this special issue of Hepatoma Research, the real Global Epidemiology and Natural History, and new updated insights especially in the actual incidence and future trends of this new epidemic burden will be discussed by the major experts in this field.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following titles.
1. The global Prevalence of NAFLD and NASH
2. It is time for a New Definition of NAFLD/NASH?
3. The global Incidence of NAFLD/NASH and trend for the future
4. The "Juvenile NASH": fact or fiction?
5. The Natural History of NAFLD patients evolving to Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD)
6. The Natural History of NAFLD patients evolving to not-liver related Cancer
7. The Natural History of NAFLD patients evolving to end-stage liver diseases
8. The prevalence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) in patients with NASH
9. The prevalence of HCC in patients with Diabetes or Obesity
10. The future trend of NAFLD/NASH: global burden epidemic or fake-news?
11. Future prospective for a better diagnosis and prognosis of NASH/NAFLD
Submission Deadline
31 Aug 2020
Hepatoma Research
