Portal Hypertension in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
1Medical Faculty Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
2Department of Hepatology, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences., New Delhi, India
3Department of General Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
Portal Hypertension in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Description
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a major problem worldwide. Many research studies have shown the importance of association between metabolic factors, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and others. Recently, it has been proposed a new term from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to become metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). Meanwhile, liver disease progression in NAFLD might further lead to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer (i.e., hepatocellular carcinoma).
Portal hypertension is the main factor causing liver cirrhosis complications. However, in NAFLD, portal hypertension might occur even without significant liver fibrosis. Portal hypertension measurement (direct and indirect) is the main standard before its further management. The gold standard for portal pressure assessment is hepatic vein pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement. However, due to its invasiveness, special training and expertise are needed. It is not recommended for routine clinical practice. Meanwhile, the non-invasive tools development for portal pressure assessment have not reached high satisfaction to be recommended in the international standard guideline. For instance, in portal pressure monitoring during treatment and in predicting liver disease progression. There have also been recent developments in portal hypertension for “one-stop diagnostic and management” through endoscopic procedures using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) for portal pressure measurement, variceal evaluation, and variceal injection treatment. Therefore, portal hypertension in NAFLD is still considered as a new research for the hepatology research community. There is a need for further research in this field for better diagnosis, monitoring, and solving any management problems.
The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together original research and review articles discussing current concepts of portal hypertension related to disease progression in NAFLD, and the innovations in portal pressure evaluation. We especially welcome submissions discussing the impact of portal hypertension on NAFLD monitoring and management.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Liver disease progression assessment in NAFLD
- Liver cirrhosis in NAFLD
- Portal pressure measurement in NAFLD
- Non-invasive assessment in NAFLD
- Hepatitis virus, NAFLD and its impact on liver disease progression
- Metabolic associated fatty liver disease
- Hepatocellular carcinoma in NAFLD
- Endoscopic management in NAFLD
- Non-invasive assessment in NAFLD
- The role of endoscopic ultrasound-guided (EUS) portal pressure measurement in NAFLD