Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis on preoperative period of gastric bypass: lack of correlation with degree of obesity.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic disorders have high correlation with severe forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. However, there is no non-invasive method that promotes its proper stratification and biopsy remains the ideal diagnostic tool. AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of this disease in obese in preoperative period of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and metabolic factors correlated with liver histopathology. METHODS: From a total of 47 patients, 35 were enrolled in the inclusion criteria and 12 excluded due to liver disease and alcohol intake >80 g/week. Were performed clinical and laboratory evaluation before the surgery and intraoperative liver biopsy . The intensity was ranked in grade of steatohepatitis: I (mild to moderate) and II (diffuse inflammation), III ( periportal fibrosis) and IV (cirrhosis). Were compared the following variables: duration of obesity, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. RESULTS: Thirty -five patients (68.6 % women , mean age 37 years) were evaluated. The mean body mass index preoperatively was 53.04 kg/m². Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was found in 31 patients (88.6 %) and 32.2% were in grade I (n=10), grade II 45.2% (n=14), and 25.6% grade III (n=7). The waist-hip ratio was associated with hepatic steatosis; hypertriglyceridemia was the marker that had best correlation with higher grade; there was no correlation between aminotransferase and intensity of the disease; there was correlation of intensity with factors related to insulin resistance. CONCLUSION: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is highly prevalent in morbidly obese patients, but there was no positive correlation between aminotransferases and degree of obesity and liver histopathology. Hypertriglyceridemia and waist-hip ratio were positively correlated with the intensity of disease.

Postoperative chylous ascites: a rare complication of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication.

The accumulation of chylous fluid in the abdominal cavity is an infrequent, yet alarming, complication in abdominal surgery. Laparoscopic fundoplication has assumed a central role in the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease and is significantly altering the balance of therapy toward more common and earlier surgical intervention. We report the case of a 67-year-old woman with gastroesophageal reflux disease and intense esophagitis who underwent a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication in February 2000. The procedure was performed without apparent complications. Twenty days later, the patient complained of abdominal pain and distension. Ultrasonography showed ascites, whereas endoscopic and radiological exploration of the fundoplication demonstrated no abnormalities. A paracentesis was performed, which showed a milky fluid with high concentrations of triglycerides (1024 ng/dL) and cholesterol (241 ng/dL). The patient was treated successfully with total parenteral nutrition for 3 weeks, followed by a low-fat diet. To our knowledge, this is the third reported case of chylous ascites after a Nissen fundoplication and the second case after laparoscopic fundoplication. The development of chylous ascites seems to be related to the injury of lymphatic vessels, including the thoracic duct, during the retroesophageal window dissection. The careful dissection and judicious use of diathermy is proposed to prevent this rare complication.