Fatty liver is a pathological condition, which could have development from steatosis to steatohepatitis and finally liver cirrhosis. Non- alcoholic steatosis has a lot of predisposing factors, which are also criterions to define metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic liver steatosis and metabolic syndrome have many common aspects in their pathophysiology, respectively the insulin resistance and the oxidative stress. Non- alcoholic fatty liver disease is recognized as the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. The diagnosis of steatosis is based on histological aspects, obtained by liver biopsy, which is an invasive intervention, why is frequently replaced by abdominal ultrasound. Ultrasonography has a high specificity and sensibility to detect fatty liver. The metabolic syndrome has many definitions and until now, is not a generally accepted consensus for an unified definition. Based on these considerations, the ultrasonografic detection of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in absence of chronic alcohol consumption may be considered as a new criterion to define metabolic syndrome in a developed (advanced ?) phase.
Keywords: metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease