Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy improves body composition and alleviates insulin resistance in obesity related acanthosis nigricans

BACKGROUND: Acanthosis nigricans (AN) has a close relationship with obesity. It is believed that obesity and AN have the common pathophysiological basis such as hyperinsulinism. This study is aimed to observe the effect of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on body composition and insulin resistance in Chinese obese patients with acanthosis nigricans. METHODS: A total of 37 obese patients who underwent LSG in our hospital were selected for analysis. They were divided into simple obesity (OB n = 14) and obesity with acanthosis nigricans (AN n = 23) group respectively. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Anthropometric measurements and glucolipid metabolism before and 3 months post LSG were collected for analysis. RESULTS: Patients with AN got noticeable improvement in skin condition and their AN score was significantly decreased (3.52 ± 0.79 vs. 1.48 ± 0.73, P < 0.001).Alleviated insulin resistance and more trunk fat loss than limbs’ were observed in both groups (P value < 0.01). In AN group, preoperative android fat mass (FM) was positively correlated with fasting insulin and natural logarithm of HOMA-IR (LNIR) (r = 0.622, 0.608, respectively; all P < 0.01). Besides, changes in android FM and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) also showed significantly positive correlation with changes in LNIR (r = 0.588, r = 0.598, respectively; all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: LSG had a positive impact on body composition and skin condition in Chinese obese patients with AN. Loss of android FM and VAT might result in the alleviation of insulin resistance in AN patients. Android fat distribution seems to be a potential indicator of postoperative metabolic benefits for obese patients with AN.