Liver morphology and liver function before and after intestinal shunt operation for obesity.

Liver biopsy and liver function tests were performed in 17 obese patients before and 14 months after intestinal shunt operation for obesity. In another 20 patients liver biopsy was performed postoperative only, in 12 patients preoperatively only. Steatosis was present in 85 per cent. of the patients before the operation. After the operation steatosis decreased in half the patients and increased in the other half. In patients with biopsy twice postoperatively there was a significant trend of decreasing steatosis up to 56 months after the operation. No patient developed cirrhosis during the time of observation. Within the first postoperative year there was a substantial and significant increase in serum alanine-aminotransferase and a minor increase in alkaline phosphatases and BSP. There was no correlation between the rate of weight loss and the change in steatosis or liver function.