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Monitoring of Liver Function Tests after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: An Examination of Evidence Base

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Abstract

There is no consensus on the monitoring of liver function tests after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Since the main objective of such monitoring would be to diagnose early those who will eventually develop liver failure after RYGB, we performed a systematic review on this topic. An extensive search of literature revealed only 10 such cases in 6 published articles. It would hence appear that liver failure is a rare problem after RYGB. Routine lifelong monitoring of liver function tests is therefore unnecessary for otherwise asymptomatic individuals. Such monitoring should hence be reserved for high-risk groups, such as patients with liver cirrhosis, those undergoing extended limb/distal RYGB, patients with new illnesses, those abusing alcohol, those on hepatotoxic drugs and those presenting with a surgical complication.

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Abbreviations

NAFLD:

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

NASH:

Non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis

LFTs:

Liver function tests

RYGB:

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

BOMSS:

British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society

ASMBS:

American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery

PRISMA:

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

NA:

Not available

NOS:

Not otherwise specified

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bariatric Unit, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, SR4 7TP, UK

    Kamal K. Mahawar, Chetan Parmar, Yitka Graham, Nimantha De Alwis, William R. J. Carr, Neil Jennings & Peter K. Small

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Health and Well-being, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, SR1 3SD, UK

    Kamal K. Mahawar & Yitka Graham

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  1. Kamal K. Mahawar
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  2. Chetan Parmar
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Correspondence to Kamal K. Mahawar.

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Mahawar, K.K., Parmar, C., Graham, Y. et al. Monitoring of Liver Function Tests after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: An Examination of Evidence Base. OBES SURG 26, 2516–2522 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-016-2280-3

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