What to Know About FibroScan® and How It Measures Liver Health

At Arizona Digestive Health, our team is proud to provide individuals with care with leading devices. This technology helps our teams deliver cutting-edge services, more speedy visits, and more accurate outcomes as opposed to more conventional approaches.

By offering FibroScan (liver elastography) to Arizona patients, our physicians will be able to measure their liver wellness and verify and track a number of conditions of the liver. To get additional information regarding the ways FibroScan could allow you to improve your liver function, connect with your nearby Arizona Digestive Health to schedule a consultation today.

What should I know about FibroScan?

As a noninvasive liver exam, FibroScan utilizes ultrasound imaging to get a complete view of your liver well-being, monitor the stages of liver conditions, and help detect liver issues. When you have this quick test, your GI specialist will ask you to lie on your back and place one hand below your head. Your provider will run a handheld device, much like those used in ultrasound exams, over your abdomen. When we carry out this exam, we are able to:

• Assess liver wellness after a transplanted liver
• Supervise the advancement of liver issues
• Diagnose problems concerning the liver
• Identify liver fibrosis
• Assess the hardness of the liver to determine the presence of liver scarring

In most circumstances, FibroScan may be utilized as opposed to undergoing a more involved liver biopsy. More people prefer this approach considering that there is no requirement to take additional time off of work or seek out a person to drive them home from the exam, and it is virtually painless. Even though this procedure may not always remove the need for a biopsy exam, it permits your provider to obtain prompt results with greater accuracy.

How is FibroScan performed?

When you have your FibroScan test at Arizona Digestive Health, the special device will send sound waves into your liver. The probe will assess about three cubic centimeters of the liver – about 100 times the volume of a biopsy test. Whenever the sound pulses are released, it will take more time to progress through a normally functioning liver. Conversely, the ultrasonic pulses will travel through a stiff liver relatively swiftly, and potentially quicker the stiffer the liver is.

The FibroScan procedure can also pinpoint the volume of fat tissue in the liver by checking the intensity and amplitude of ultrasound waves. Whenever the sound frequencies are released, they will be absorbed into fatty livers more than livers that are healthy. The diseased liver will have a higher rate of attenuation, but the liver that is healthy will have a lower attenuation rate.

All of these details will be reported using our specialized technology, which lets your GI doctor discuss your results with you during your procedure. You can talk to your provider about questions throughout your test, or you could wait and speak about them after the results are given in further detail.

Why would I have a FibroScan exam?

If you have symptoms or signs of liver conditions, like abdominal pain, brown urine, yellow-shaded skin or eyes, or another issue, your Arizona GI specialist might suggest a FibroScan to check your liver health.

Depending on your symptoms, medical history, and other considerations, our staff could use FibroScan to assess or aid our verification of:

• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
• Hemochromatosis
• Alcohol liver disease
• Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
• Hepatitis B or C

Learn more about FibroScan

If you find that you or a family member experiences symptoms or signs of a liver issue, have previously had liver disease, or have a family medical history of liver conditions, your gastrointestinal doctor may advise a FibroScan test. This quick and effective technique can help track liver disease and measure the total vitality of your liver, providing a more precise way to treat and detect liver problems.

To hear more regarding FibroScan and the ways it can allow you to maintain your liver and total well-being, call Arizona Digestive Health today to arrange a consultation.