Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2021; 9(23): 6624-6638
Published online Aug 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i23.6624
Nonalcoholic fatty pancreas disease: An emerging clinical challenge
Cheng-Lei Zhang, Jing-Jiao Wang, Jian-Ning Li, Yi Yang
Cheng-Lei Zhang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Cheng-Lei Zhang, Jian-Ning Li, Yi Yang, The Institute of Endocrinology, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Jing-Jiao Wang, Department of Stomatology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Jian-Ning Li, Yi Yang, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Zhang CL, Wang JJ, Li JN, and Yang Y designed the research study; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yi Yang, PhD, Professor, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Ningxia Medical University, No. 692 Shengli Street, Xingqing District, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. yangyi0908666@163.com
Received: March 11, 2021
Peer-review started: March 11, 2021
First decision: May 12, 2021
Revised: May 20, 2021
Accepted: June 1, 2021
Article in press: June 1, 2021
Published online: August 16, 2021
Processing time: 147 Days and 12.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Just as obesity is a global problem, nonalcoholic fatty pancreas disease (NAFPD) has attracted an increasing amount of attention from researchers and clinicians. In this review, we have summarized the recent progress of NAFPD, including risk factors, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and clinical consequences. The value of NAFPD as early indication of diagnosis and intervention in patients with metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and pancreatitis is important. In the future, it is reasonably expected that large cohort and multi-center basic and clinical research can deepen our knowledge of NAFPD, so that the early diagnosis and treatment of NAFPD and clinical associations can be made possible.