A Promising New Development for Millions of People With Liver Disease

Well|A Promising Development for Millions of People With Liver Disease

Nearly four in 10 American adults are estimated to have a liver condition that can lead to serious complications and even death. Commonly known as fatty liver disease, the illness often goes undiagnosed until a patient has progressed to permanent scarring and damage to the liver, called cirrhosis.

Until recently, doctors could only hope to intervene by suggesting diet and lifestyle changes, or by helping patients manage related conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol. But those efforts often haven’t been enough. Now a promising new study shows that weight-loss surgery could reduce the chances of severe complications, even in some patients with cirrhosis.

In the study, published in Nature Medicine, researchers looked at data on patients with obesity and cirrhosis related to an advanced form of fatty liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH. Obesity is one of the major risk factors for MASH. At the 15-year mark, patients who had bariatric surgery were 72 percent less likely to have developed major complications like liver cancer than similar patients who didn’t have surgery.

The findings, together with emerging research on the benefits of weight-loss drugs, have given doctors new hope for addressing fatty liver disease.

MASH begins with fat buildup on the liver. In some patients, that leads to inflammation and liver fibrosis, or scarring. Research has shown that significant weight loss can reverse fibrosis and improve patients’ long-term outcomes. But research on cirrhosis was much more limited.

“Most people assume that cirrhosis is a death sentence,” said Dr. Rotonya Carr, who is the division head of gastroenterology at the University of Washington. But the emerging data suggest otherwise.