S4-E6.1 - Tony Rahman on Fatty Liver Prevalence in Australia

Send us Fan MailIn an introduction to Fatty Liver in Australia, Louise Campbell is joined by Tony Rahman, Director of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane and Adjunct Professor in the College of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University.This opening conversation starts by following the path that took Tony from his training in London and his Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from Imperial College to his work in Australia today. Tony asserts that he has been fortunate to be part of a generation which has seen sweeping progress in the treatability of Hepatitis C and goes on to discuss how to apply this experience to the onslaught of liver disease that Australia is grappling with today. An important theme of the extended episode emerges: Australia faces considerable and unique challenges associated with providing for large, rural-based populations. As the subsequent conversations unfold, the duo explore various approaches to serving this community that comprises 7 million people, or around 28% of Australians. In this session, Tony previews telehealth solutions and a traffic light system oriented toward serving this subpopulation. He notes that with these remote measures in place, the patients physically presenting for consultation are distilled to those with progressed Fatty Liver diseases. Finally, an interesting trend is underscored: the alcohol-related cohort is shrinking and the last ten years has paid increasing attention to refining available tools to provide for an alarming surge in NAFLD and NASH.