Relationship of Fat Deposition in the Liver and Pancreas with Cholecystectomy

Introduction: Rates of cholecystectomy in the general population continue to rise despite little being known about its long-term metabolic implications. Existing studies have suggested that cholecystectomy may be linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, though there is yet to be quality investigation of its associations with important ectopic fat depots - hepatic fat and intrapancreatic fat. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of cholecystectomy with both hepatic and intrapancreatic fat.

The study involved 367 participants who underwent abdominal scanning, with hepatic and intrapancreatic fat quantified using gold-standard MRI-based methods. Linear regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, triglyceride, LDL-C, and HDL-C.

In the most adjusted model, cholecystectomy was significantly negatively associated with hepatic fat (β coefficient = -3.671; p = 0.019) but not intrapancreatic fat (β coefficient = 0.133; p = 0.586). In analyses stratified by BMI, this association with hepatic fat was significant in the obese group only (β coefficient = -7.163; p = 0.048). The association with intrapancreatic fat was not influenced by BMI.

Cholecystectomy is significantly associated with lower hepatic fat in obese individuals. This affirms that people with indications for cholecystectomy should not be dissuaded from undergoing the procedure based on fears of harmful effects of increasing hepatic fat content.