Non-alcoholic fatty liver and cardiovascular disease: an emerging relationship.

N on-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinicopathological condition characterised by a wide spectrum of histological abnormalities and clinical outcomes. The underlying histological abnormality is hepatic steatosis, characterised by fat accumulation, which may progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), characterised in turn by steatosis, periportal inflammation, and ballooning degeneration, with or without fibrosis. NASH may progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.