Liver failure after jejunoileal bypass: an appraisal

The jejunoileal bypass until recently was the surgical modality of choice utilized in the treatment of morbid obesity. One of the reasons it has fallen from favor is that in the postoperative period a substantial number of patients (from 5-40 percent) will develop abnormalities of liver function. Of these, approximately 10 percent will require take down of their shunt. Perhaps as many as 30 percent of the remaining patients will show evidence of progressive liver changes, and even cirrhosis, when late biopsies (greater than five years) are compared to preoperative liver histology.