Compared to patients who didn’t have surgery, obese patients with advancing fatty liver disease who underwent bariatric weight loss surgery had a significantly lower risk of liver complications and serious cardiovascular disease in the future.
Though bariatric surgery is considered an option for those who suffer from obesity, it is observed by the experts that it can offer some additional benefits also especially to those who suffer from fatty liver.
Fatty Liver & Progression Of The Liver Is Decreased By Bariatric Surgery
As a result, the study also found that bariatric surgery led to an 88% lower risk of progression from fatty liver to cirrhosis, cancer, or liver-related death at the end of the study.
Additionally, patients who underwent bariatric surgery had a 70% lower risk of suffering serious cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes. JAMA published the study results.
According to the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ali Aminian of Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric & Metabolic Institute, fatty liver is not currently treated with FDA-approved medications. This study reveals that bariatric surgery is an effective therapeutic option for patients who suffer from advanced fatty liver disease and obesity.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a disease in which obesity is a major contributing factor. An accumulation of fat in the liver leads to inflammation and damage. A scar tissue forms in the liver as the disease progresses, rendering it unable to function properly. In permanent liver damage, called cirrhosis, the risk of cancer in the liver is increased, and liver transplantation may be required.
Complications related to fatty liver and NASH, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease and heart failure, are linked to the development of these conditions.
There may be no symptoms associated with fat alone. For an accurate diagnosis and severity assessment of liver disease, certain patients need a liver biopsy. NASH management should include a multidisciplinary team to minimize the possibility of liver damage and future cardiac events.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved medical treatment for NASH. No therapy has been shown to reduce the risk of severe cardiovascular events or liver disease progression amongst NASH patients.
This study aimed to assess to what extent bariatric surgery can increase the risk of cirrhosis and prevent serious cardiovascular events in patients with NASH or obesity.
Study participants were 1,158 adults with biopsy-proven NASH receiving liver biopsy at Cleveland Clinic between 2004 and 2016 and followed up through March 2021. Researchers compared 650 bariatric surgery patients to 508 nonsurgical patients in a study. In terms of liver disease severity at baseline, study participants had similar characteristics.
Two percent of the surgical group in the control group had advanced liver disease, compared to nine percent of the control group ten years after enrollment. Among the nonsurgical group, 15.7% suffered a stroke, and 8.5% had a heart attack in the course of the study. Surgeons, however, experienced major adverse cardiovascular events less frequently.
The bodyweight of the surgical group decreased by 22.4%, while that of the nonsurgical group decreased by 4.6% after ten years. Diabetes patients who underwent bariatric surgery also had significantly lower blood sugar levels after the procedure. Based on the STAMPEDE clinical trial led by Cleveland Clinic, these findings confirm the durability of bariatric surgery benefits.
Steven Nissen, the lead study investigator, says that patients with obesity and NASH may benefit from bariatric surgery by reducing substantial amounts of weight effectively and thus reducing their risk of liver disease progression. In this study, we report the first study that reports a treatment modality with a reduced risk of complications in patients with biopsy-proven NASH.”
