[Approach to patients with liver diseases]

In recent years the most frequent cause of chronic liver diseases in western countries has become Non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis/steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH). It is part or immediate manifestation of metabolic syndrome. A crucial task for the future is to diagnose this hepatic injury to a greater extent and cooperate with other internal medicine physicians in the care of patients with NAFLD. It has been clearly proven that it is not a benign disease, as assumed in the past. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis can have serious consequences for the patient and it needs to be actively searched for. The still prevalent notion that normal liver tests in patients with hepatic steatosis eliminate a more serious liver injury has also been disproved. On the contrary, this condition is common in patients with NAFLD. Also the patients with normal liver test results can have advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis. It is needed to target identification of a liver injury in a patient with the detected metabolic syndrome with the same intensity as the other diabetes complications are searched for today. All patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2T) should undergo ultrasound examination of the liver and it is further recommended to check the liver tests in annual intervals at least. The cause of liver lesions should be found in all diabetics who had higher liver test values established even once. The liver injury needs to be further regularly followed in these patients. Regarding the patients without the metabolic syndrome anamnesis with the NAFLD signs, it is needed to actively search for the components of the metabolic syndrome (hypertension, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes).