In the wake of recent significant change in nomenclature of NAFLD to MASLD by the multinational liver societies, it is critical to disseminate more information to the medical fraternity in this regard. International Journal of Metabolic dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease(IJMASLD) is our ardent attempt to serve this purpose. This is a special edition of our existing journal International Journal of Atherogenic Diabetic Dyslipidemia (IJADD), which has a reach of more than 20,000 readers.
Steatotic liver disease (SLD) is the new overarching term with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) which replaces nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).The term steatohepatitis is an important pathophysiological concept and hence was retained.Universal consensus is needed on a positive, stigma-free diagnosis and nomenclature for liver disease.
Patients with hepatic steatosis and at least one of five cardiometabolic risk factors are diagnosed with MASLD. Those with MASLD who consume greater quantities of alcohol per week (140 g/week for females and 210 g/week for males, respectively) have been designated as having MetALD (Met A-L-D; pronounced: Met A-L-D). Those without any metabolic parameters and with no known cause are diagnosed with cryptogenic SLD. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has been replaced by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).