Regression of Hepatic Fibrosis After Endoscopic Gastric Plication in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Introduction: Fibrosis stage is the strongest predictor of mortality in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). There is currently no approved therapy that specifically targets fibrosis. This study aims to assess the effect of endoscopic gastric plication on hepatic fibrosis in patients with underlying NAFLD.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected registry of patients with obesity and NAFLD with clinically significant hepatic fibrosis (≥F2) who underwent endoscopic gastric plication. Full-thickness plications were placed in the gastric body using a commercially available platform to reduce the gastric volume. The primary outcome included various noninvasive tests (NITs) of hepatic fibrosis based on clinical chemistry and/or imaging. The secondary outcomes included NITs of hepatic steatosis, other metabolic outcomes, including hemoglobin A1c, insulin resistance, and total weight loss (TWL), and adverse events.

Results: Forty-five patients (age 51 ± 13 years and body mass index 40.7 ± 6.9 kg/m 2 ) were included. All patients underwent endoscopic gastric plication successfully. At 6-12 months, there were significant reductions in biochemistries (alanine aminotransferase: 49.7 ± 36.8 U/L to 24.2 ± 12.0 U/L [ P < 0.0001], aspartate aminotransferase: 39.1 ± 24.1 U/L to 24.1 ± 10.0 U/L [ P < 0.0001]), composite fibrosis score (NAFLD fibrosis score: 0.48 ± 1.51 to -1.18 ± 1.56 [ P < 0.0001], fibrosis-4 index: 1.4 ± 1.2 to 1.2 ± 0.7 [ P = 0.03]), and imaging-based markers of fibrosis (vibration-controlled transient elastography: 13.9 ± 7.5 kPa to 8.9 ± 4.8 kPa ( P < 0.0001) and Agile 3+: 0.53 ± 0.28 to 0.37 ± 0.28 [ P = 0.001]). There were significant reductions in controlled attenuation parameter, Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance, and hemoglobin A1c ( P < 0.05 for all). At 12 months, patients experienced 15.5% ± 7.9% TWL, with 63% reaching at least 10% TWL.

Discussion: Endoscopic gastric plication seems effective at treating NAFLD, with significant reduction in NITs of hepatic fibrosis even in patients with cirrhosis.