The blind men ‘see’ the elephant-the many faces of fatty liver disease

Table 1 Fatty liver: the many faces in clinics

Classification of fatty liver
Classic metabolic syndrome associated fatty liver	‘Fatty liver of the affluent’: commonest form of fatty liver; associated with metabolic syndrome
The lean nonalcoholic fatty liver	Includes lipodystrophies, known and unknown adipose tissue defects of various origin resulting in lean phenotypes,
Fatty liver of infection/chronic inflammatory diseases	liposuction (?) HCV, HBV, Q fever (?) autoimmune diseases Drugs like tetracycline, amiodarone, alcohol, environmental industrial toxins
Xenobiotic fatty liver
Fatty liver of defective fatty acid catabolism	Reyes syndrome, reye like syndrome, sudden infant death syndrome, fatty liver of pregnancy
Malnourishment associated fatty liver	‘Fatty liver of the deprived’ : kwashiorkor
Transient fatty liver	Fatty liver which develops transiently following short excess calorie intake