Research

Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) is liver inflammation caused by a buildup of fat in the liver. Many people have a buildup of fat in the liver or fatty liver disease (10% to 20% of Americans) up to 5% of those having NASH. For most people this usually does not cause symptoms or problems. Some people, because of the inflammation can develop scar tissue leading to cirrhosis and/or other further complications. To date there are no approved medications to treat NASH.

The focus within Hepatology has been to prevent the risk factors for the possible causes. These risk factors are obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and metabolic syndrome. Medications being used so far in research are anti-diabetics and anti-inflammatory meds. Further research is being done with anti-fibrotic medications as well.