Portal Hypetension and Bariatric Surgery (BARIAPORTAL)

The worldwide obesity epidemic has led to an increase in the proportion of patients with chronic liver disease due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and in the prevalence of obesity in patients with cirrhosis of all etiologies. The reported prevalence of obesity in patients with cirrhosis is of 30% which appears similar to that of the general population.

Bariatric surgery is currently considered as the most effective and durable means for the management of morbid obesity as it is associated with the remission and/or improvement of many obesity associated comorbidities as well as improved quality and expectancy of life.

However, the surgical risk is increased compared to individuals without cirrhosis, and determining the risk/benefit ratio of bariatric surgery in the setting of cirrhosis is a complex task further hampered by the lack of randomized controlled trials.

The Nationwide Inpatient Sample study reported a slightly increased rate of mortality of bariatric surgery in the setting of compensated cirrhosis compared to individuals without cirrhosis (0.9% vs 0.3%). Interestingly, this risk was as high as 16.3% in individuals with decompensated cirrhosis (16.3%). However, this study has been published more than 10 years ago and the mortality of bariatric surgery has decreased significantly and is around 0.1%. Furthermore, the introduction of transient elastography in clinical practice has allowed the early identification of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) at risk of developing clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH).

A few series including a limited number of patients have been published indicating that CSPH should not be considered as a formal contraindication for bariatric surgery.

This study is meant to assess the outcomes of bariatric surgery in patients with morbid obesity and compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) (currently synonymous of the term "compensated cirrhosis'') associated with clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) in a large multicentric, multinational series.