Diagnosing Fatty Liver Risks in Men

For many men, the focus of diet and health often comes late in life, after many years making unhealthy lifestyle choices. For some men, the complications are associated with obesity and excessive fat accumulation around the organs, which attribute to complications cardiovascular disease and the development of metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

Each year, men are encouraged to seek annual check-ups to screen for the health complications that may be associated with genetic pre-disposition, unhealthy lifestyle choices or simply attributed to the acquisition of infection. As part of the healthy screening, diagnostic studies are commonly run to investigate for complications that are not readily visible by physical examination.

If you are a man about to undergo a health screening with your family practitioner, it is important to ask about the diagnostic studies to be run. While not considered common among routine health screenings, many men find they are well served by the use of an abdominal MRI to screen for fat accumulation around the organs. Specifically, when looking at abdominal MRI, many physicians can determine, to some extent, the degree to which long term health may adversely be affected by a fatty liver.

Fatty liver is common among men who are obese or suffer from diabetes. In fact, fat within the liver can be as a tool to identify a man's risk for developing insulin resistance, high cholesterol and are cardiovascular disease. So, in addition to your routine health examinations and testing, ask your physician to also look at the level of visceral fat through an abdominal MRI.

In addition to the abdominal MRI, you may also want to consider the diagnostic study known as the proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, MRS. As a more specific study for assessing fat in the liver, the MRS, coupled with the MRI, can provide detailed information into your long term health risks.