title: Effect of bariatric surgery on liver fibrosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although bariatric surgery has been shown to improve hepatic steatosis in morbidly obese patients, the effect of weight loss on hepatic fibrosis has not been determined. Since the prognosis of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is closely related to the development of hepatic fibrosis, it is important to determine the hepatic histology of these patients after weight loss. We therefore evaluated the prevalence of hepatic fibrosis in morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery and assessed the correlation of histologic changes with weight loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated 78 morbidly obese patients who underwent gastric bypass. Liver biopsies were taken during surgery and after weight loss, and the correlations between histologic findings and hepatic fibrosis were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 78 patients, 35 (44.8%) had fibrosis at first biopsy, and 24 (30.8%) had hepatic fibrosis after weight loss, including 19 of the 35 patients (54.3%) with fibrosis at first biopsy and 5 of the 43 (11.6%) without hepatic fibrosis at first biopsy (P = 0.027).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Weight loss in morbidly obese patients was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of hepatic fibrosis.
authors: Centro da Obesidade e Síndrome Metabólica do Hospital São Lucas, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, 90610-000 Porto Alegre, Brazil. mymoretto@hotmail.com
authors: Myriam
authors: M
authors: Moretto
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Kupski
authors: Vinicius Duval
authors: VD
authors: da Silva
authors: Alexandre V
authors: AV
authors: Padoin
authors: Cláudio C
authors: CC
authors: Mottin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D015390:Gastric Bypass / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss