/EINPresswire.com/ -- TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 23, 2017) - On Thursday, April 13, 2017, Xtalks will host a complimentary webinar featuring Dr. Richard Ehman, Professor of Radiology, Blanche R. & Richard J. Erlanger Professor of Medical Research, Mayo Clinic; President and CEO, Resoundant, Inc. and Jonathan Riek, Vice President, Musculoskeletal and Metabolic Imaging, BioTelemetry Research (Cardiocore & VirtualScopics) as the presenters.

Fatty liver disease is a progressive disease that begins with accumulation of fat in the liver. This accumulation of fat in the liver can then lead to inflammation, at which point, the disease is referred to as steatohepatitis. The inflammation can then lead to fibrosis, which, when it becomes severe enough, becomes cirrhosis and may even lead to hepatocellular carcinoma. Fatty liver disease may be caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is caused by a variety of factors including poor diet and exercise (the western diet) and is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in children and adults in the United States. It is also an increasingly-common reason for liver transplants in the United States. Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis or NASH is the progression of NAFLD from simple steatosis (fat in the liver) to steatohepatitis (fat, inflammation and tissue damage in the liver).

Lifestyle modification and bariatric surgery may be used to treat NAFLD or NASH. Drug therapy is also in development. The current standard for determining the stage and progression of the disease is histopathology from a liver biopsy. From the biopsy, a pathologist can determine the degree of steatosis, the amount of inflammation, the degree of fibrosis, and the amount of cellular damage. These four measurements currently comprise the NASH Clinical Research Network's scoring system for the disease. There are several issues with biopsies: they are very invasive, they have a small morbidity and mortality rate, and they only sample about 0.002% of the total liver volume.

Because of the risks and sampling variability associated with liver biopsies, it would be ideal to develop noninvasive ways to assess the stage and progression of the disease. One noninvasive way to assess much of the measurements obtained from a biopsy is through imaging.

This webinar will discuss noninvasive ways to assess NASH using imaging, including proton density fat fraction (PDFF), T1 relaxometry, Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and the latest advances in MRE and how they can be used to assess inflammation.

Topics include:

• Proton density fat fraction (PDFF) - a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that can accurately determine the amount of fat in the liver (steatosis)
• T1 relaxometry - an MRI technique that measures the amount of extracellular fluid (which is related to the amount of fibrosis and inflammation)
• Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) - a technique that builds upon MRI to determine the stiffness of the liver, which can be used to determine the degree of fibrosis
• The latest advances in MRE and how they can be used to assess inflammation

Register today to discover how partnering with BioTelemetry Research's experts will optimize your liver clinical trial!

For more information or to register for this free webinar visit: Assessing NASH: Discover the Non-Invasive Techniques

Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global Life Sciences community. Every year thousands of industry practitioners (from pharmaceutical & biotech companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers.

To learn more about Xtalks visit: http://xtalks.com

For information about hosting a webinar visit: http://xtalks.com/sponsorship.ashx

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