Diagnostic scores and scales for appraising Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and omics perspective for precision medicine

Purpose of review: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a rising epidemic burden affecting around 25% of the global population. Liver biopsy remains the reference for NAFLD. However, several scales and clinical algorithms application have been proposed to diagnose NAFLD using prediction questions and blood biomarkers. This review presents a summarized of the currently available and emerging diagnostic biomarkers and scores used to assess NAFLD.

Recent findings: The limitations of liver biopsy have fostered the development of alternative noninvasive strategies, which have been an area of intensive investigation over the past years. Diagnostic scores for NAFLD have shown to be a good alternative for disease diagnosis and prognosis due to a suitable applicability, good inter-laboratory reproducibility and widespread potential availability.

Summary: The growing NAFLD pandemic urges clinicians to seek alternatives for screening, early diagnosis, and follow-up, especially for those with contraindications for liver biopsy. New promising noninvasive biomarkers and techniques have been developed, evaluated and assessed, including diagnostic biomarkers, scores. Moreover, multiomics markers panels involving phenotype, genotype, microbiome and clinical characteristics of patients will facilitate the diagnosis, stratification and prognosis of NAFLD patients.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO  Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2022 Sep 1;25(5):285-291. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000849. Epub 2022 Jul 5.