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Abstract Details
Brain involvement in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): A systematic review
Lombardi R1, Fargion S1, Fracanzani AL2. Dig Liver Dis. 2019 Jun 5. pii: S1590-8658(19)30594-8. doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2019.05.015. [Epub ahead of print]
Author information
1 Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation Ca' Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, Italy.
2 Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation Ca' Granda IRCCS Foundation, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, Italy. Electronic address: anna.fracanzani@unimi.it.
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality which usually is considered to be related to cardiac involvement, while scarce attention is addressed to brain damage. Viceversa NAFLD is associated with asymptomatic brain lesions, alterations in cerebral perfusion and activity, cognitive impairment and brain aging and with increased risk and severity of both ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke. Besides known metabolic risk factors, NAFLD is characterized by a pro inflammatory state, which contributes to atherosclerosis and microglia activation, endothelial dysfunction, pro-coagulant state and platelets activation, which in turn promote both micro and macrovascular damage eventually responsible for clinical and subclinical cerebrovascular alterations. A better knowledge of the association between NAFLD and brain alterations could lead to an improved management of risk factors underpinning both liver and cerebral disease, possibly preventing the progression of asymptomatic brain lesions to clinical cerebrovascular accidents.