NASH : a welfare disease with emerging questions and adequate answer attempts

We read with great interest the Letter of Pieter Vandekerckhove, Brieuc Van Damme and Lieven Annemans (1) and we would like to thank them for this interesting economic but also anthropological and philosophical point of view, which complements perfectly our document (2). Our goal with the guidance document (2), in line with the quest for quality that characterizes the AGEB Journal editorial line (3), was to increase awareness of the disease among the medical community and draw the attention to this “new” recognized cause of cirrhosis as well as of general (extra-hepatic) complications. We also wanted to stimulate disease case finding and provide adequate tools to evaluate disease severity in targeted patients. Finally, our objective was also to supply treatment strategies for selected patients, if necessary, even if there is currently still no NASH dedicated drug.

Keywords: non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, economy, treatment, society, healthcare.