How Bariatric Surgery Improves Fatty Liver Disease

Fatty Liver

Last week I posted on the importance of non-acoholic fatty liver disease as one of the most common yet insidious consequences of obesity.

Now, a paper by Bower and colleagues from Imperial College London, published in Obesity Surgery, provides a systematic review of the impact of bariatric surgery on liver biochemistry and histology.

The review clearly shows that bariatric surgery is associated with a significant reduction in the steatosis, fibrosis, hepatocyte ballooning and lobular inflammation. Surgery is also associated with a reduction in liver enzyme levels, with statistically significant reductions in ALT, AST, ALP and gamma-GT.

However, there is considerable variability in these outcomes and between different types of interventions – clearly suggesting that more research on this issue is needed.

Nevertheless, at this time it appears that bariatric surgery may well be the most effective treatment for fatty liver disease.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB