We first need to clarify what is fatty liver?
Fatty liver, as the name implies, is the result of increased fat content in the liver, leading to fatty changes in the liver cells. The normal liver fat content is about 4% to 5%, and if this percentage reaches or exceeds 10% to 15%, we call it a fatty liver.
The causes of fatty liver formation include:
- Long-term alcohol abuse
- Overnutrition
- Malnutrition
- Drug damage
- Diabetes mellitus
- Hepatitis
- hyperthyroidism
- hyperlipidemia and other causes.
And these factors happen to be important factors in the formation of liver cancer as well. Among them, fatty liver can be divided into alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver.
Alcoholic fatty liver
In China, most patients with alcoholic fatty liver that turns into liver cancer have a combination of hepatitis B or C. Alcoholic fatty liver can lead to an earlier age of liver cancer in patients with hepatitis, and long-term alcohol use can lead to liver cancer in some patients.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Patients with NAFLD can usually develop cancer through a spectrum of disease with NAFLD, nonalcoholic hepatitis and associated cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
In general, simple NAFLD has a low cancer rate, and according to the literature, once NAFLD-associated hepatitis and cirrhosis occur, approximately 12.8% will become cancerous within 3.2 years of follow-up.
The incidence of NAFLD has increased with improved living standards and lifestyle changes, and of course the incidence of NAFLD-associated hepatitis and cirrhosis has also increased.
So for fatty liver, in layman’s terms, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic hepatitis have the potential to develop into liver cancer and deserve more attention.