Impact of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy on fibrosis stage in patients with child-A NASH-related cirrhosis

Purpose Bariatric surgery can improve non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yet data on the effect on fibrosis are insufficient and controversial. This work endeavored to evaluate the safety of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in cases that have compensated non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related cirrhosis and its impact on fibrosis stage. Methods The current prospective work involved 132 cases with Child-A NASH-related cirrhosis suffering from morbid obesity scheduled for LSG. They were subjected to preoperative assessment, wedge biopsy, and ultrasound-guided true-cut liver biopsy after 30 months. Patients were included if proved to have F4 fibrosis initially. The liver condition was assessed based on the NALFD Activity Score (NAS). The primary outcome measure was the impact of LSG on fibrosis stage and its relation to weight loss. Results The analysis included only 71 patients who completed the 30-month follow-up period. By the end of the follow-up interval, there was a substantial weight loss with a reasonable resolution of comorbidities. The median NAS decreased significantly from 6 (1–8) to 3 (0–6) after surgery. Fibrosis score regressed to F2 in 19 patients (26.8%) and F3 in 29 (40.8%). Patients with improved scores had a significantly higher amount of weight loss ( p