fibroscan

[seansmum72]

when for an appointment at the hospital yesterday because i had raised lft results and the doctor did a fibroscan which came back at 52.8. what does this mean?

[AyrshireK]

If that is the kPa reading from your fibroscan then either you have some major liver inflammation going on at the moment which is skewing the fibroscan result and giving an ultra high reading or else you have some serious liver damage. I hope you have follow up medical appointments in the pipeline including referral to a liver specialist.

Katie

[seansmum72 in reply to AyrshireK]

I have to go and have a biopsy and a endoscope in the next couple of months.

[gizmo67]

Although it doesn't show the whole picture, a fibroscan score of 52.8 is very high and indicative of cirrhosis. Your Dr should be referring you to a liver specialist to further investigate what is causing it. In the meantime I would advise you to avoid any alcohol and try and eat as healthy as possible avoiding processed foods and limit your salt intake.

I wish you all the best

Mitch

[seansmum72 in reply to gizmo67]

Thank you for your reply. I dont understand how i have cirrosis as i dont drink, i have regular blood test as i am diabetic and nothing as shown as abnormal until christmas when i had slightly raised ltf.

[AyrshireK in reply to seansmum72]

There are numerous causes of cirrhosis which have nothing at all to do with alcohol. My tea-total hubby was diagnosed April 2012 with cirrhosis due to auto immune hepatitis. One cause that can be related to having underlying diabetes is non alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which is sadly very much on the rise in the Western World due to our poor diet containing too much processed food, salt, fat and sugars and often too little exercise. Diabetes can be a contributory factor for NAFLD. You might want to have a read a the British Liver Trust page about NAFLD and see if there is anything there which ticks any boxes and indicates where you might be able to make any changes to lifestyle which might help further progression of the condition. britishlivertrust.org.uk/li...

The biopsy you will have is to look at the liver on a cellular level and see if they can identify the cause of this condition (there are genetic, hereditory, auto-immune and all manner of other issues that can cause liver ill health).

The endoscopy will check for any signs or symptoms of portal hypertension which can cause issues such as varices in the oesophagus, changes to stomach lining etc.

Sounds like doctors are on the ball and doing all the necessary follow up to see what is going on.

All the best, Katie

p.s. if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask away and we'll all try and help.

[seansmum72 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thank you for the help I will go look now but yes I have been diabetic for over 20 years now so this hasnt helped. x

[seansmum72 in reply to seansmum72]

I also got diagnosed with celiacs disease from the same blood test i had done.

[gizmo67 in reply to seansmum72]

Hopefully as Katie says something is skewing the results and your reading is incorrect.

There are several ways of getting cirrhosis other than alcohol such as Hepatitis B or C, auto-immune diseases and bad diet to name but a few.

Just make sure your Dr follows this up and gets you referred to a specialist where Im sure you will get further investigation.

Mitch

[Hidden]

Alpha one antitrypsin is a genetic disease that can cause liver diseases as well.

[Hidden]

It's not very common that fibroscan results that high are actually reflections of the liver state. Most people including myself see drops over time back down to much lower KPA. My first fibroscan was 58.9 and within less than 3 months it had dropped to 38. My hepotologist says that usually scores that high are caused by active inflammation. ie: hepatitis .So just to give you an idea of how these machines can be interpreted wrong, there has been studies done where they have taken alcoholics in withdrawal and tested there liver stiffness using fibroscan. Both scored 75KPA which is the highest number score a person can have. Within a month they both dropped down to KPA scores of less than 7 however a biopsy showed they both had cirrhosis. On the opposite side of things many out there are getting diagnosed with cirrhosis because a fibroscan indicates it though a biopsy shows they do not have cirrhosis. Bottom line is that fibroscans are incredibly accurate most of the time at doing what they are designed to do and that is assess liver stiffness. However, liver stiffness can be incredibly influenced by many factors other than fibrosis and cirrhosis. Biggest influence being inflammation and blockages. So try not to stress to much yet as a good doctor will know that a fibroscan is a diagnostic tool and not a diagnosis. The whole clinical picture is needed to diagnose any disease.

Hope this helps you understand a bit more 😊

[seansmum72 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Excellent post!

[mrsmerlin]

It sounds as though your doctor is on top of this.

It is possible that the celiac disease is causing problems with inflammation throughout your digestive system.

Fibroscans are notoriously wise of the mark at times - I had one that was 64 in the morning with a repeat of 35 in the afternoon once. ( it was part if a training for new scanners bit this was the doctors demonstrating! )

You must feel as though you found the light at the end if the tunnel only to find its a train heading toward you. You are among a very supportive and informative virtual family that has kept us all going at one time or another.

Rita xx

[seansmum72 in reply to mrsmerlin]

Thank you x