He fatty liver could become the main cause of cancer in this body in less than a decade. This is one of the main conclusions of the Liver Diseases Week in Catalonia, which has been promoted by the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH). The pathology is asymptomatic and already affects one in four Catalans. It is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat in the liver and is linked to increased blood pressure. obesity, diabetes and immune-mediated diseases. The presence of liver cancer in patients with fatty liver in Spain has tripled in the last decade. It is the sixth with the highest prevalence in the State, and the second with the most years of life remaining in the population.
One in four Catalans suffers from this condition linked to obesity, diabetes and immune-mediated pathologies.
Experts in liver pathologies indicate that metabolic hepatic steatosis (MetHEA) or fatty liver has become the main cause of disease that affects this organ. One of the population segments where it has the highest incidence is that of younger populationsince eight out of ten adolescents with obesity suffer from it, and are at risk of developing cirrhosis at early ages.
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The progression of fat liver goes through three stages. A first when the fat in the liver exceeds 5%. The second, when this fat produces inflammation, and the third, which is when fibrosis, a type of scar in the liver, ends up developing. It is in this last stage when the organ can stop functioning.
“We are talking about a disease for which there are no drugswhat is silent and that when it comes forward it does so at a very advanced stage, which can lead to cancer and the need for a transplant,” explained the doctor. Manuel Romeropresident of the AEEH.