Effect of Bariatric Surgery on the Sonographic Grade of Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease at 12-Month Follow-Up.

Abstract

Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is the most prevalent liver disease across the globe. One of the most effective treatments for this disease is weight loss. This study aimed to determine how metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) affects MAFLD sonographic grades. In 2021, a pre-post study was conducted on 73 patients who underwent MBS. The study collected demographic information and ultrasound grades of MAFLD before and after MBS. A total of 73 patients underwent MBS, with 58 females and 15 males. The patients had a mean age of 39.8 ± 8.88years and a mean BMI of 42.12 ± 5.98kg/m2. Of these patients, 53 (72.6%) underwent SG, while 20 (27.4%) underwent RYGB. The preoperative BMI for females and males decreased significantly at the 12-month follow-up (P = 0.0001). However, males experienced more prominent weight changes (P = 0.009), but there was no statistically significant difference in fatty liver grade changes after MBS between males and females (P = 0.056), which suggests that the effect of MBS on fatty liver grades is not gender-specific. There was a significant reduction in BMI and fatty liver grade for patients under and over 40years old after surgery (P = 0.0001). However, there was no statistically significant difference in fatty liver grade and BMI changes after MBS between the two age groups. RYGB was found to be more effective than SG in reducing fatty liver grade, BMI, and %TWL (P < 0.05). Bariatric surgery can play a vital role in reducing the weight and severity of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease.