Prevalence and risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in potential living liver donors in Korea: A review of 589 consecutive liver biopsies in a single center

Lee, Ji Young; Kim, Kang Mo; Lee, Sung Gyu; Yu, Eunsil; Lim, Young-Suk; Lee, Han Chu; Chung, Young-Hwa; Lee, Yung Sang; Suh, Dong-Jin

doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2007.02.007

« Previous Next »Journal of Hepatology
Volume 47, Issue 2 , Pages 239-244, August 2007

Prevalence and risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in potential living liver donors in Korea: A review of 589 consecutive liver biopsies in a single center☆

Ji Young Lee
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Kang Mo Kim
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 3010 3190; fax: +82 2 485 5782.
Sung Gyu Lee
- Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Eunsil Yu
- Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Young-Suk Lim
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Han Chu Lee
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Young-Hwa Chung
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Yung Sang Lee
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Dong-Jin Suh
- Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Centre, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Received 16 October 2006; received in revised form 7 February 2007; accepted 9 February 2007. published online 07 March 2007.

Background/Aims

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in potential living liver donors and to evaluate the efficacy of imaging techniques for the detection of steatosis in donors.

Methods

We reviewed the results of liver biopsy, ultrasonography (USG) and computed tomography (CT) and biochemical data performed in 589 consecutive potential liver donors as a pretransplantation work up from July 2004 to September 2005 at Asan Medical Centre.

Results

Of 589 participants, 408 (69.3%) were men, with a mean age of 31.1±9.5 years. NAFLD (⩾5% steatosis in biopsy) was diagnosed in 303 (51.4%); >30% steatosis in 61 (10.4%) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in 13 (2.2%). The independent risk factors for >30% steatosis were age over 30 (OR=2.223; p=0.014), obesity (OR=5.320; p<0.001) and hypertriglyceridemia (OR=2.253; p=0.019) by multivariate analysis. The sensitivity of USG and CT for detecting >30% steatosis was 92.3% and 64.1%, and positive predictive value was only 34.5% and 45.1%, respectively.

Conclusions

NAFLD was highly prevalent in potential living liver donors. The independent risk factors for significant steatosis were older age, obesity and hypertriglyceridemia. USG and CT had limitations in detecting significant steatosis in liver donors.

Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, Liver donor, Liver transplantation, Liver biopsy