Fatty liver - damage?

  Same problem as Linda of 07/13.  
  Originally diagnosed with fatty liver in '92.  
  Non-drinker, non-diabetic; female.  
  Need to lose ~50 lbs.
  Have taken off some weight, then put back on.  
  Was originally told that having a fatty liver wasn't
  a real problem and usually didn't cause pain and not to
  worry about it.  
  Incidentally, mine is, at times, VERY painful.  
  My concern now is, could I have caused scarring to liver?
  How can I tell if there has been damage?
  Do I need to have repeat CT scan or ultrasound?  
  Are they both reliable?  
  If I really lose the weight now, will I be "cured"?  
__________
Dear JP.,
Although it is unlikely that you have caused any significant scarring to your liver, it is necessary to be diligent about watching yuor caloric and fat intake.  A committment to regular exercise is also needed.  The only way to detail the extent of liver damage is to perform a liver biopsy, an approach that I would not recommend.  If you were my patient and we had excluded all the other causes of liver disease, I would encourage you to lose weight and follow your liver tests as your weight fell.  If your liver tests returned towards normal as you shed weight, I would be reassured that your problem was hepatic steatosis (fatty liver).  If the liver tests were not normalizing, I would then do a liver biopsy.  An ultrasound is a good way to follow the chnage in liver fat and is less expensive than serial CT scans.  I would probably not obtain serial ultrasound, however, and would restrict investigations to blood tests.
If you lose weight and keep it off, the hepatic staetosis will resolve.
This information is presented for educational purposes only.  Always consult your personal physician for specific medical questions.
HFHSM.D.-rf
*keywords: fatty liver, liver tests
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