By AUDREY EDWARDS
audee@thestar.com.my
Tuesday July 12, 2011
PETALING JAYA: Fatty liver is expected to be a major health problem in Malaysia due to the increasing affluent lifestyle and poor dietary habits.
Malaysian Liver Foundation president Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said these two factors were leading to many obese and overweight Malaysians.
“Fatty liver is not harmless.
“In fact it has been shown to progress to liver scarring, hardening and also liver cancer,” he said ahead of the upcoming 9th Liver Update which starts tomorrow and ends on Sunday.
“Lifestyle modifications like exercise and a healthy diet are effective in preventing fatty liver in most individuals,” he said.
He added that doctors and other healthcare providers should not only treat their patients with specific remedies but also educate them on healthy lifestyles.
Dr Ismail said most patients were asymptomatic and usually discovered the condition incidentally because of abnormal liver function tests or enlarged liver discovered when they saw the doctor for something unrelated.
“Elevated liver enzymes are found in 50% of patients with simple steatosis (fatty change).
“Some patients developed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (Nash),” he added.
“It is thought that about 80% of individuals with fatty liver will not develop significant liver disease.
“The other 20% will develop Nash.From this, between 20% and 30% will go on to develop cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease, where the only real treatment is a liver transplant.”
The KL Hepatitis Day will be held on Sunday with the foundation carrying out free blood screening for hepatitis A, B and C at the Sunway Lagoon Resort and Spa Hotel.
There will also be a public forum to create awareness, counselling and subsidised vaccinations should they need it.
The Liver Update is organised by the foundation and Health Ministry.
It is a series of international scientific meetings designed to update the region on advances in the management of liver and hepatobiliary diseases, including liver transplantation and complex liver surgery.
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