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Nonalcoholic fatty liver in children and adolescents: an overview
Claudia Della Corte1, Anna Alisi, Alessia Saccari
1Hepato-Metabolic Division, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Insights
Pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is rising due to obesity. New noninvasive diagnostic tools and treatments are urgently needed, as current methods are insufficient.
Area of Science:
- Hepatology
- Pediatrics
- Metabolic Disorders
Background:
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasingly prevalent in children, linked to rising obesity rates.
- Current diagnostic methods, including liver biopsy, have limitations.
- There's a significant need for improved noninvasive diagnostic tools and effective treatments for pediatric NAFLD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current knowledge on pediatric NAFLD.
- To discuss emerging diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
- To highlight future research directions in pediatric NAFLD management.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of recent studies on pediatric NAFLD.
- Analysis of current diagnostic limitations.
- Exploration of novel therapeutic approaches based on disease mechanisms.
Main Results:
- Liver biopsy remains the gold standard but is invasive and imperfect.
- Existing noninvasive markers lack sufficient accuracy for NAFLD diagnosis.
- Limited success with current pharmacological treatments necessitates further research.
Conclusions:
- Effective management strategies for pediatric NAFLD are still lacking.
- Developing reliable noninvasive diagnostics is crucial.
- Novel therapeutic interventions are essential to address this growing pediatric health concern.
Abstract:
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is rapidly becoming one of the most common liver diseases in the pediatric population in industrialized countries because of the growing prevalence of obesity and overweight. For this reason, there is a keen and broad interest among researchers to identify new diagnostic noninvasive tools and novel treatment modalities for this condition. Unfortunately, to date, liver biopsy remains the imperfect gold standard for diagnosis. In addition, available noninvasive markers are not fully satisfactory for the diagnosis of fatty liver. Although in recent years many pharmacological agents, on the basis of pathogenetic mechanism of the disease, have been attempted, to date, the guidelines for the management of fatty liver are still lacking. Establishing effective therapeutic strategies to treat the disease represents the challenge for pediatric hepatologists in the near future. In this article, we briefly review the current knowledge and ideas concerning pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and discuss the new perspective therapies.
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