There’s a Fatty Liver Epidemic. AI Could Help Get Ahead of It

All over the world, a slow, insidious change is taking place in the composition of the livers of more than a billion people.

While the presence of fat in a normal, healthy liver is negligible, many adults and even children have livers where fat exceeds 5 percent or even 10 percent of the organ’s total weight. Its unnatural presence causes inflammation, cell damage, and the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis, all hallmarks of fatty liver disease, a condition that now impacts approximately 30 percent of adults worldwide.

If left to linger, progressive fat accumulation can ultimately lead to liver failure, and it has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and various cancers. But the condition typically develops without noticeable symptoms, so it is rarely detected at an early and treatable stage. Even in cases of cirrhosis or advanced scarring of the liver, three-quarters of...

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