Noninvasive Evaluations of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Pediatric Populations

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the pediatric population Schwimmer JB et al. [1], Anderson et al. [2] & Le et al. [3]. NAFLD in children is associated with central obesity and insulin resistance Alterio & Vos et al. [4,5]. The prevalence of NAFLD in children with obesity is estimated to be 34.2%. That is significantly higher than the 7.6% among children from the general population Anderson et al. [2]. The understanding of the pathogenesis of NAFLD is essential to ensure the finding of a reproducible and accurate noninvasive tool to effectively detect the progress of hepatic steatosis Loomba [6]. This mini review focuses on the currently available noninvasive diagnostic modalities that can potentially be applied in children populations.