Adipose tissue induces a better liver regeneration after living liver donation in normal weight donors

BACKGROUND: Extrahepatic body fat could be a relevant factor affecting liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential role of body fatty tissue in liver regeneration capacity after liver resection in a cohort of living donors. METHODS: We observed liver regeneration in 120 patients: 70 living donors who underwent right hepatectomy and 50 recipients who got a right graft transplantation. Liver volumetry and body fat analysis were performed based on the computed tomography images with volumetry software. The gain of liver volume was calculated between three points in time considering the absolute and percentage values: before surgery and early (median 10 days, range 4–21 days) and late (median 27 weeks, range 18–40 weeks) after surgery. Pearson’s correlation was used to examine the potential correlation between adipose tissue and liver regeneration. RESULTS: Pearson’s correlation showed a significant correlation between the subcutaneous fat mass index (sFMI) and early (r=0.173, P=0.030), as well late (r=0.395, P=0.0004) percental liver volume gain in the whole collective. Under stratification in donor’s and recipient’s collectives, the effect of extrahepatic adipose tissue appears in multiple regression only in the donor’s collective: early (β =0.219, T =2.137, P=0.036) and late (β =0.390, T =2.552, P=0.015) percental volume gain. CONCLUSIONS: Subcutaneous adipose tissue is a positive predictive factor to estimate the goodness of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in normosthenic donors.