Outcome of Liver Transplantation in Patients With Prior Bariatric Surgery

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is becoming the leading cause of disease resulting in liver transplantation (LT). As a result of this trend, more LT candidates are presenting with prior history of bariatric surgery (BS). Over the last decade, 960 patients underwent LT at our institution; 11 (1.1%) had prior BS. The most common type of BS was Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 9) with 1 sleeve gastrectomy and 1 jejunoileal bypass. A total of 9 patients underwent LT alone, and 2 underwent simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation. The most common indication for LT was nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 10) with 5 having additional diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease. The 30-day reoperation rate was 36.4% (n = 4); indications were bile duct repair (n = 3) and wound repair (n = 1). In the first 6 months after LT, biliary complications were seen in 54.5% (n = 6) of the patients. Both patient and graft survival rates at 1 and 2 years were 81.8% (n= 9) and 72.7% (n = 8), respectively. A total of 8 patients (72.7%) had indications for liver biopsy after LT; significant macrovesicular steatosis was found in 2 (18.2%). In patients with a history of alcohol consumption, 2 (40.0%) relapsed after LT. Two patients (18.2%) had a history of diet-controlled diabetes before LT; 1 of these patients became insulin dependent after LT. Mean body mass index (BMI) at LT was 31.065.7 kg/m(2). Mean BMI at 1, 6, and 12 months after LT was 28.3 +/- 5.8, 28.0 +/- 3.2, and 31.0 +/- 6.6 kg/m(2), respectively. Mean preoperative albumin was 2.660.6 mg/dL. Patients showed improvement in albumin after LT, with mean albumin of 2.7 +/- 0.6 and 3.2 +/- 0.5 mg/dL at 1 and 3 months, respectively. The liver profile was stable after LT, with mean aspartate aminotransferase of 32.9 +/- 18.4 and 26.6 +/- 19.8 IU/L and alanine aminotransferase of 28.0 +/- 17.5 and 30.2 +/- 17.0 IU/L at 6 and 12 months, respectively. In conclusion, outcomes of LT patients with prior BS are comparable with other transplant recipients with regards to patient and graft survival and post-LT complication rates.