Apolipoproteins A-I and B as predictors of complications in gallbladder lithiasis surgical patients.

Specific serum proteins have been traditionally used in the assessment of protein-energy malnutrition. Some short half-life serum proteins have been related to the appearance of postoperative complications in surgical patients with low-risk pathologies that, far from undernutrition, showed a trend toward overweight and obesity. Apolipoproteins have been proposed as potential tools to assess protein status and nutritional recovery, so we investigated apolipoproteins A-I and B as new tools with prognostic value to detect postoperative complications. We analyzed the interrelation between apolipoproteins level and the appearance of complications after programed surgical procedures of gallbladder lithiasis. Assessment was performed, and postoperative complications were recorded in 52 patients (39 women and 13 men, age range = 21-69 y). Assessment included measurements of weight and height and determinations of apolipoprotein A-I and B by quantitative radial immunodiffusion on gel layers. Apolipoproteins levels showed no statistical differences between complicated and uncomplicated patients. The apolipoproteins included in this study did not predict surgical complications because abnormal values were not associated with the presence of complications in this kind of patient.