Fibroscan chart question?

[Cthulwhoo]

I was looking at the Fibroscan chart, and it seems the range for alcohol fibrosis F3 (borderline cirrhosis) is like, wayyyyy higher than all the other values. Why is this?

[BLTHollyDawson Volunteer]

Good Afternoon Cthulwhoo,

I hope you are well?

Unfortunately there is not a lot of information available regarding how the scale was developed. I did however, contact Echosense who provided the following response:

FibroScan is measuring the physical stiffness of the liver, but it is not telling you ANYTHING about what is causing that stiffness. We know that as fibrosis, which is basically a change in the internal structure of the liver, increases the so does the stiffness that is measured. In different underlying conditions different degrees of fibrosis (as determined by biopsy) relate to different degrees of stiffness, this is basically due to the different pathological progressions of the diseases. To be honest I am not certain that even the liver specialists fully understand why this is, the chart simply reflects the findings of various studies on patients having contemporaneous FibroScan assessments to assess their liver stiffness and biopsies to assess their fibrosis and these are the results!

They did also suggest that if you have had a scan and are worried about the result it may help if you discuss this with your clinician.

I hope this goes a little way towards answering your question.

Kind regards

Sandy Forsyth

Patient support and information manager