Health and Weight Loss News

Complications of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease appeared to improve after bariatric surgery

Written By Unieke sieraden on Monday, December 1, 2008 | 9:11 PM

According to a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
"Even today, the effect of weight loss after bariatric surgery on the liver, particularly NAFLD, remains unclear. There is a lack of well-defined trials exploring this relationship," said lead author Gagan K. Sood, MD, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

"Our team assessed and quantified this effect and found encouraging news: a majority of patients experience complete resolution of NAFLD after bariatric surgery, and the risk of progression of inflammatory changes and fibrosis seems to be minimal."

For the meta-analysis, 15 studies were selected for final data extraction. The mean age of the participants at the time of weight loss surgery ranged from 35.6 to 49 years. Mean body mass index (BMI) at the time of weight loss surgery ranged from 43.9 to 56 kg/m2 and the mean BMI at follow-up liver biopsies ranged from 28.6 to 39 kg/m2. Percentage reduction in mean BMI values ranged from 19.11 to 41.76.

The pooled proportion of patients with improvement or resolution in steatosis was 91.6%, steatohepatitis was 81.3%, fibrosis was 65.5%, and complete resolution of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was 69.5%.

The authors noted that the results may require confirmation from large, multicentre trials using uniform histopathological criteria for liver biopsy specimens.

Source: Doctor's Guide

0 comments: