Current guidelines for the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review with comparative analysis

Figure 1 Main difference between non-alcoholic fatty liver and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A: Non-alcoholic fatty liver; B: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. NAFL is characterized by minimal inflammatory infiltrate without hepatocyte ballooning (arrow). Instead, NASH is associated with lobular inflammatory infiltrate and hepatocyte degeneration (arrow). NAFL: Non-alcoholic fatty liver; NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Figure 2 Aspects of liver steatosis according to the different imaging techniques. In normal ultrasound examination liver parenchyma is isoechoic to the renal parenchyma in normal conditions (A1), becoming hyperechoic in presence of liver steatosis (A2). In comparison to a normal liver (B1), a fatty liver appears hypodense compared to the spleen and to the hepatic veins (B2) in computed tomography scans. Finally, in the setting of a severe steatosis, the magnetic resonance signal has a clear fall from in phase (C1) to out phase sequencings (C2).