Correlation of Angiogenesis and Inflammation with Post-Operative Complications in Patients with Fatty Liver Disease Undergoing Liver Resection

Background: Hepatic steatosis has been identified as an independent risk factor for post-operative complications. The aim of our research was to assess how inflammation and neoangiogenesis associated with different stages of hepatic steatosis are related to post-operative complications in patients who undergo hepatic resection. Methods: Our study included 19 patients with hepatic steatosis undergoing liver resection for primary or secondary tumors. For every patient we performed immunostaining using a panel of 5 primary antibodies (CD3, CD20, CD68, CD31, CD34) to highlight inflammation and neoangiogensis in the non-tumoral hepatic parenchyma. Results: Taking into consideration the number of vessels as well as the signal area and integrated optical density (IOD) forCD3, CD20, CD68, and also the degree of steatosis, the univariate analysis with a log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test revealed that patients with higher values of CD31 and CD34 had a higher rate of post-operative complications on a 30-day follow-up period. Also, we used a Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests for group distributions. We noticed thatCD34 was significantly increased in patients diagnosed with steatosis compared to the control group and there was a statistically significant difference between CD31 median values of S0 (27.6) and S1 (55.8) grades. Conclusion: Patients with steatosis that presented higher values of CD31 and CD34 had a higher rate of post-operative complications. Further studies should assess the value of pre-operative evaluation of angiogenesis in patients with liver steatosis submitted to liver surgery.