Hey y’all, I am wondering if anyone out there has had liver damage related to the surgery. My liver function tests have been elevated since surgery in February and I was finally referred to GI. My GI doc did some more tests and found that I have liver damage (there’s a blood test that looks for this called the GGT or Gamma Glutamyltransfer Ase). My GGT is 537, normal is under 38. They want to do a liver biopsy next. Any thoughts or advice on how to not freak out about this?

I have pre-surgery liver issues. That is why I chose to have this surgery. My doc said it would be sad to be cured from Breast Cancer and then die from Fatty Liver disease. Do they know how the liver was damaged? Try not to freak out. whatever your results are, it will not change by you freaking out. Try not to think about it and not stress until you know you have something to stress about. The liver does regenerate.

Sorry you are going through all this. Since they don't know exactly what is causing such high numbers the biopsy is a good thing. It will give them a good look at your liver health and if there are any problems. My thoughts are try not to freak out so much, take a deep breath. Better that they check you early rather than late so they can figure out the best way to help you.

Signed

Mom of a liver transplant patient.

I assume that your bariatric surgeon is in the loop on this, as elevated liver numbers are not unusual for a while after bariatric surgery - all that extra fat being metabolized by the liver puts extra stress on it - but I would expect that your surgeon would now what is "normal" elevated vs. abnormal, while a PCP may be freaked by any elevated numbers. If this is beyond the comfort level of your bariatric surgeon, then a consult with your GI doc, or a hepatologist (liver guy) would be in order. My bariatric surgeon was also a biliopancreatic transplant surgeon, so high liver numbers were second nature to him, but if he was concerned, then that was something to be concerned about!

Good luck in getting an answer to this...

Ditto what @RickM said. It’s not unusual for liver function to rise after surgery. Mine settled back to acceptable levels once my weight loss slowed. My surgeon & my GP did keep a regular check & I had almost monthly blood tests between them & a scan to ensure my liver was okay. (It’s how they discovered my gall stone actually.) I’m still glad they are testing to see what’s really going on with your liver. One benefit of the surgery I found is the thorough checks they do on your health after … well at least my surgeon & doctors. Things I would have just ignored or just accepted in the past, they’ll investigate further just to be sure everything’s ok.

I also had elevated liver numbers for about a year after surgery. As others have said, it's not uncommon and it's because weight loss (esp rapid weight loss) is really hard on livers. My numbers normalized after my weight loss slowed way down. I don't know about that particular test or the GGT, though. Hopefully this is just the normal liver-going-nuts-about-the-weight-loss thing, and not anything worrisome. The biopsy is probably a good idea if the GI doctor is concerned about something. The good thing about livers is, depending on the issue, they can regenerate.

Sounds like you got some good info. I hope it gives you some comfort to find its not uncommon for whacky liver numbers after surgery. I think your going to be ok.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance.

My LFTs are elevated too. Alkaline Phosphatase is 293 (normal 26-137), AST is 783 (normal 0-37) and ALT is 814 (normal 12-78). They also found IgG deficiency. Hoping I can get some answers soon.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance.
My LFTs are elevated too. Alkaline Phosphatase is 293 (normal 26-137), AST is 783 (normal 0-37) and ALT is 814 (normal 12-78). They also found IgG deficiency. Hoping I can get some answers soon.

How did it go? Hope all is well and you got your answers. My alt and ast were high. It began a couple of months after surgery, and are still high at 1.5 year+ .

I'm curious, too. How is everything now?