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Introduction: Cirrhosis is a common disease with high morbidity and mortality. In industrialised countries, the most common causes of cirrhosis are the alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic viral hepatitis. Cirrhosis is often diagnosed late, as it can be asymptomatic for a long time. Therefore, hepatopathy screening in high-risk patients and fibrosis surveillance using the ultrasound, in the presence of a chronic hepatopathy are essential. A liver biopsy is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. With optimal therapy, in some cases, cirrhosis is preventable and potentially reversible in others. In the stage of decompensation, typically characterised by ascites, patients often die from recurrent infections or hepatocellular carcinoma unless cured by liver transplantation. The prevention and treatment of complications as well as the evaluation of a transplant require cooperation with a centre hospital., Competing Interests: Es bestehen keine Interessenskonflikte., (© 2023 Aerzteverlag medinfo AG.)

The prevalence of fatty liver disease has increased significantly in Germany in recent years. With an estimated 18 million German citizens being affected, it is now among the most prevalent diseases. Furthermore, it is also considered a relevant and independent risk factor for other common cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack or stroke. Finally, diabetes mellitus promotes the development of and an unfavorable course of fatty liver disease. Given the high prevalence and complications, the German healthcare system is reaching its limits.Therefore, close coordination of all healthcare providers and specialists involved in the treatment of these patients is essential. In an expert consensus involving private practice and hospital doctors from the fields of gastroenterology, endocrinology, cardiology, general practitioners and laboratory physicians, as well as in close coordination with patient representatives, we have designed a concept for the care of these patients in the German healthcare system. Necessary developments are also addressed. In addition to being useful as a practical guideline, this should also support health policy work, especially in the development of practical care solutions at the medical level., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)

Background:  Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases in Germany. In the long term, there is an increased risk of developing liver cirrhosis and subsequent diseases. Epidemiologic studies on NAFLD prevalence in Germany are scarce. The aim of the study was to assess administrative incidence and prevalence or, more specifically, the number of patients diagnosed with NAFLD in the period from 2008 to 2018., Methods:  Analyses are based on administrative data of a large statutory health insurance fund. All individuals who were insured in the year of analysis and in the three-year pre-observation period were included (between 1.7-2 million insured per analysis year). NAFLD-patients were identified using relevant ICD-10 codes (K76.0 und K75.8)., Results:  In 2018, 4.66 % of insured persons had a NAFLD diagnosis, 0.87 % were diagnosed first-time. Diagnoses of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) were comparatively rare (0.09 %). Data show an uptake of NAFLD diagnoses over time. The number of incident cases per year has hardly changed. Patients with diseases of the metabolic syndrome had an increased chance of being diagnosed with NAFLD., Conclusion:  It becomes evident that NAFLD is frequently diagnosed in everyday medical practice, although data from population-based studies suggest an even higher prevalence., Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant tumor and is the most common cause of death in patients with underlying liver cirrhosis. The main risk factor for development of HCC is liver cirrhosis. Because of the increasing frequency of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the incidence of HCC is also expected to considerably rise in Western countries in upcoming years. Identification and surveillance of patients at risk is crucial because curative treatment approaches can only be applied at early stages of the disease. Due to underlying liver cirrhosis, therapeutic strategies are limited and require intense interdisciplinary cooperation and multimodal approaches. However, a strong morphological and genetic heterogeneity of HCC remains a major challenge for development of new treatment modalities and demands personalized precision medicine approaches in order to improve patient outcome.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common chronic liver disease in Europe and in the USA with rising prevalence. Patients with a metabolic syndrome (diabetes mellitus, obesity, dyslipidemia) are patients at risk with the highest prevalence for NAFLD. Progression from a non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) occurs in 5-20% of patients with the potential to develop a liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. NASH patients and NAFLD patients with higher fibrosis should be identified because they are at risk of a higher mortality. A specific treatment for NASH is not available at the moment. Therefore, the treatment of risk factors and metabolic syndrome has high priority., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) currently is one oft the most common reasons for chronic liver injury in the western world. In the European and American population the prevalence is up to 30 %. The medical supply of German patients with NAFLD is variable and has not been analyzed to date., Methods: We sent questionnaires to all university liver centers in Germany (11 questions) concerning the medical supply of patients with NAFLD. Questions included the rate of patients with fatty liver disease in the outpatient clinics, metabolic comorbidities and the kind of assignment. Besides that, individual clinical standards were documented. We compared longitudinal changes between 2008 and 2013., Results: The return rate of questionnaires was 65 % (n = 20). Analysis showed that the portion of NAFLD patients in the university outpatient clinics had increased between 2008 and 2013 with the predominant part of patients being assigned from external practitioners and not from internal departments of the hospital. Only few patients were assigned by diabetologists or endocrinologists, but on the other hand most liver outpatient clinics investigated their NAFLD patients for metabolic disorders. Cooperation between liver outpatient clinics and other medical services was moderate and was rated average, joint conferences were held rarely. Follow-up visits of patients with NAFLD take place regularly in all centers, however based on different criterions. A consistent algorithm concerning risk assessment and invasive workup does not exist., Conclusion: The awareness concerning patients with NAFLD seems to have grown in recent years. Nevertheless, the medical supply of these patients is quite heterogenous and consistent standards do not exist. Therefore, a common guidline is urgently required., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)