Nonalcoholic fatty liver may increase the risk of operation in patients with fatty liver and the frequency of cancer in their first-degree relatives.

BACKGROUND

Fatty liver is a common disease in developed countries. We investigated the frequency of operation in patients with fatty liver and the frequency of cancer in their first-degree relatives.

METHODS

In this study, we evaluated 105 patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), 121 patients with hepatitis C (61 patients with fatty liver and 60 patients without fatty liver), 50 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and 109 patients with dyspepsia as a control group.

RESULTS

There was no difference for sex, mean age, and marital status among the groups, except that patients with IBD were younger than others (p < 0.001). The frequency of cancer in family was as follows: 18 % in IBD, 9 % in dyspepsia, 28 % in hepatitis C with hepatic steatosis, 21.5 % in hepatitis C without steatosis, and 27 % in NAFLD (p = 0.006). Then, we divided the study group into two groups-group 1: IBD + dyspepsia + hepatitis C without hepatic steatosis, and group 2: hepatitis C with hepatic steatosis + NAFLD-and performed the same analysis. We found that the frequency of cancer in family was 16 % in group 1 (the patients without fatty liver) vs. 24.4 % in group 2 (those with fatty liver; p = 0.037). We also investigated the rate of operation in patients. The results were as follows: 33 % in group 1 vs. 43 % in group 2 (p = 0.043).

CONCLUSIONS

Independently of the underlying chronic diseases, occurrence of fat in the liver increased the frequency of operation in patients with fatty liver and the rate of cancer in their first-degree relatives. Understanding the underlying causes of fatty liver forms might decrease the cancer frequency in the population and number of operation in patients with fatty liver.