Abstract:
Interpretation of diagnostic and surveillance laboratory results and imaging in liver disease is fraught with misinterpretation and/or uncertainty. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents an ever-growing proportion of liver disease cases but presents unique challenges for the clinician. Given the necessity of excluding other etiologies of liver disease, NAFLD can at times represent a challenging diagnosis as non-invasive assessment and biopsy are imperfect tests with important limitations. Similarly, cautious review of laboratory reports is necessary to avoid missing abnormal pathophysiology. The presence of lab values within the standard reference range may be concerning in the setting of chronic liver disease (\"abnormally normal\") and conversely results flagged as abnormal may not necessarily be of great concern (\"normally abnormal\"). This review provides a framework for the clinician to review common diagnostic challenges in NAFLD and enhance patient care.
摘要:
肝脏疾病的诊断和监测实验室结果和影像学的解释充满了误解和/或不确定性。非酒精性脂肪性肝病(NAFLD)代表了肝病病例的不断增长的比例,但对临床医生提出了独特的挑战。鉴于排除肝病的其他病因的必要性,NAFLD有时可以代表具有挑战性的诊断,因为非侵入性评估和活检是不完善的测试,具有重要的局限性。同样,谨慎审查实验室报告是必要的,以避免遗漏异常的病理生理学。在慢性肝病(“异常正常”)的背景下,标准参考范围内的实验室值的存在可能是有关的,相反,标记为异常的结果不一定是非常重要的(“正常异常”)。这篇综述为临床医生提供了一个框架,以审查NAFLD的常见诊断挑战并加强患者护理。