Question:
What chance of open surgery with a fatty liver?

If the pre op test show a fatty liver, what are the chances the dr will have to do a open instead of a LAP?    — kathyd55 (posted on December 17, 2002)

December 17, 2002
Kathy, unfortunately it just depends on a lot of factors. How fatty is the liver? What size is the patient? In the end the surgon will have to make the call based on how much of an obstruction the liver turns out to be. The good news is that many obese people have fatty livers and they often have successful lap surgeries. Maybe your doctor can give you a better idea of what the chances are in your specific case.
   — Amber L.

December 17, 2002
My surgeon now puts all patients, LAP and open, on a high protein diet for 2 weeks before surgery to get rid of the big ole fatty liver. He said it was a mess trying to deal with it in a LAP surgery and even sometimes in open so they went to this process and it solved the problems. In just the 2 weeks time of little to no carbs the liver is in good shape for surgery. So ask you doctor about doing something like that. Good Luck.
   — zoedogcbr