FibroScan Testing is a non-invasive scan used to measure liver scarring or fibrosis caused by a number of liver diseases. Similar to undergoing a normal liver ultrasound, FibroScan testing is quick, painless, easy, and provides an alternative to the traditional liver biopsy.
Its helpful to monitor chronic liver conditions:
- Autoimmune Hepatitis
- Cirrhosis
- Genetic Diseases (such as Hemochromatosis and Wilson’s Disease)
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Alcoholic Liver Disease
- Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
What is a FibroScan? What is a FibroScan of the liver?
A Fibroscan is an advanced form of ultrasound used to help determine the health of your liver.
If your doctor wants a fibroscan of the liver, it is likely to assess the health of your liver and detect liver fibrosis, which can indicate the presence and extent of liver damage or liver disease. The scan uses transient elastography to measure liver stiffness.
This quick, easy, noninvasive exam allows you and your doctor to find out the state of your liver health.
Why would I need a FibroScan? Why would a doctor order one?
The liver scan FibroScan can be used to help diagnose or monitor the progression of diseases affecting the liver, such as:
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: With NAFLD excessive amounts of fat are stored in liver cells, which puts you at risk for developing liver damage.
- Alcoholic liver disease: Also known as alcoholic hepatitis, this is liver damage caused by drinking more alcohol than your liver can process, creating inflammation that can cause serious scarring (cirrhosis), which can lead to liver failure.
- Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): A form of NAFLD that is more aggressive than fatty liver and causes liver damage, including cirrhosis, and can lead to liver failure.
- Viral infection: When the liver becomes infected with the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), it causes inflammation putting you at increased risk of developing cirrhosis or liver cancer, or ending up with liver failure.
- Hemochromatosis: Excessive amounts of iron are stored in your organs, including the liver, which can become toxic for the body and create liver damage and other serious life-threatening complications.
The FibroScan test can also be used to monitor liver health for patients following a liver transplantation.
What is a FibroScan looking for?
The FibroScan is a noninvasive way to determine the health of your liver and what stage of liver disease you have. With the FibroScan, liver stiffness is measured, l indicating whether scarring is present, and its extent:
Scarring of the liver in the initial stages is called fibrosis, and more severe scarring is cirrhosis. The FibroScan is like a fibrosis scan that can use scarring measurements to provide a diagnosis or to track the progression of liver disease.
Is a FibroScan the same as ultrasound?
When you have a FibroScan of liver, you are essentially having an ultrasound of the liver but using extra technology that uses transient elastography, an enhanced form of ultrasound.
For many patients who are just learning about FibroScan for the first time, this should be reassuring. Ultrasounds are common procedures many of us have had before and have found to be relatively quick and comfortable experiences.
Is FibroScan painful? How long does the procedure take?
FibroScans are not at all painful. If you have ever had an ultrasound before, you will find the FibroScan procedure similar. You lie on your back with your right arm above your head, providing access to your right rib cage so that your liver can be scanned. Gel is applied to the area and the FibroScan device is placed on the skin between your ribs. You may feel a slight vibration as the device sends energy pulses to your liver to gather measurements.
Before fibroscans Doctors had to biopsy livers to determine the same information, so we can be grateful for this painless technology.
