Outcomes of bariatric surgery in the setting of compensated advanced chronic liver disease associated with clinically significant portal hypertension: a multicenter, retrospective, cohort study on feasibility and safety

Background: The obesity epidemic has led to an increase in the proportion of patients with chronic liver disease due to metabolic associated steatosic liver disease and in the prevalence of obesity in patients with cirrhosis. Metabolic and bariatric surgery has been proven to determine weight loss, obesity-related medical problems remission, and liver steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis improvement. However, cirrhosis and portal hypertension are well-known risk factors for increased morbidity and mortality after surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety of metabolic and bariatric surgery in patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease and clinically significant portal hypertension. Material and Methods: This is an international, multicentric, retrospective study on 63 individuals affected by obesity with compensated advanced chronic liver disease and clinically significant portal hypertension who underwent metabolic and bariatric surgery in tertiary referral centers with experts hepatobiliary surgeons between January 2010 and October 2022. The primary endpoint was post-operative mortality at 90 days. The secondary endpoints included postoperative weight loss at last follow-up and postoperative complication rate. In addition, we performed subgroup analyses of Child-Pugh (A vs. B) score, MELD (≤9 vs. >9) score and type of surgery. Results: One patient (1.6%) experienced gastric leakage and mortality. There were 3 (5%) reported cases of portal vein thrombosis, 2 (3%) postoperative acute renal failure, and 1 (1.6%) postoperative encephalopathy. Child-Pugh score A resulted to be a protective factor for intraoperative bleeding requiring transfusion at univariate analysis ((OR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55 – 0.97, P =0.046) but not at multivariate analysis. MELD>9 score and the type of surgery did not result to be a risk factor for any postoperative complication. Conclusion: Metabolic and bariatric surgery is safe in patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease and clinically significant portal hypertension performed in tertiary bariatric referral centers with hepatobiliary expert surgeons. Larger, prospective studies with longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm these results.