Fibroscan Results (75 Kpa)

[Zaka99]

I had a Fibroscan with a result of 75 Kpa back in June this year indicating advanced cirrhosis.

I am currently in treatment for a Hep C infection (genotype 3a) which I think I contracted around two years ago. I take Epclusa. I was previously a problematic drinker (particularly extreme and sporadic binges with lighter drinking in between) although I completely ceased drinking alcohol in early April.

Has anyone else here had results which have shown that Fibroscan test results can decrease? Obviously 75 Kpa is the highest possible score and I am keen to do anything to reduce this and help my liver get in better shape if at all possible.

My LFT results are now back to normal and the virus load on my last blood test was just 56 from 101,000. The ALT reading was 28 from a 154 result pre treatment.

I have read that a Hep C infection can possibly heighten a fibroscan result?

I follow a careful low fat vegetarian diet now and avoid food and drinks known to stress the liver, particularly sugar. I do not drink or use drugs at all anymore. I also use 'alternative' remedies such as milkthistle and curcumin which some studies show may help the liver in various ways and reduce inflammation.

I exercise quite vigoursly for around 3 hours or so a week.

I am slightly overweight (BMI 28.8).

I was also previously on a high daily dose of an anti-psychotic drug known to have an effect and possibly stress the liver but I have now safely tapered off this and stopped using them since June.

I would be keen to hear of any comments, experiences or feedback - gratefully received!

Zak

[Hidden]

Hi Zak

Keeping fit will help towards being healthy but vigorous exercise can put too much stress on an already struggling liver. I believe my intense training sessions when diagnosed with compensated cirrhosis played a big part in changing it to decompensated. At the time I was going to the gym 3-5 times a week. Can't remember exactly but I think my fibroscan score was in the high 50s.

A healthy diet doesn't have to be low fat but rather low sugar. You'll notice many low fat or fat free foods are loaded with sugar. I eat plenty of good fats like avocado, nuts and olive oil and don't have a problem with my weight.

Milk thistle and curcumin are backed by anecdotal evidence at best and many on here will tell you they can actually harm the liver. There are however several studies showing coffee is excellent for helping protect the liver as well as reverse any damage already occurred in some cases.

Here's a link from British Liver Trust:

britishlivertrust.org.uk/li...

Good luck!

[Zaka99 in reply to Hidden]

Hi KLDN,

Thanks for your message!

I have the same about coffee and as I have always liked it I drink a few cups of black coffee before midday.

I never ate a great deal of fat anyway but avoid the low fat options for the sugar issues you have given. Gone all the days of fizzy sugary drinks! I very good friend is a dietian who is useful to talk with.

My exercise is vigorous as far as I'm concerned. It is 2-3 (hour or so long) games of quite high-intensity 6 a side football a week. It is interesting to note your exercise feedback. I need to look into this more I think.

I've heard people can swing from compensated to decompensated and then back again. Are you still suffering from a decompensated liver?

Best wishes, Zak

[Hidden in reply to Zaka99]

Sadly once my liver changed to decompensated, there was no going back. It all went downhill from that point on but thankfully I underwent a transplant just 6 months later.

I don't know for certain it was the intensive training that caused the decompensation but I can't think of anything else as I wasn't drinking, my diet was on point and as I mentioned, I was leading an active lifestyle. The Hep B+D infection, which was the primary cause of my cirrhosis, certainly didn't do me any favours and it caused everything to deteriorate much faster than it really should have.

Anyway what's done is done, just extremely thankful to still be here to tell the tale 😊

[Hidden]

I have been decompensated twice and each time gone back to the gym once compensated. I have asked more than once about exercising and the only thing I have been told to avoid is weight training. Light weights only. I used to do HIIT, Zumba and circuits every week. At the moment I just do circuits. Never been told to ease off on any of these.

[Hidden]

Bit of a late response here but yes fibroscans can go down in score. Mine was 59 in june and 38 in September. Getting another one on Tuesday so we will see what's changed this time. There also has been studies of people.going from 75 down to 5. But fibroscans are a measure of stiffness and dont always reflect fibrosis staging accurately For example the study where the person went from 75 to 5 kpa still showed ti have cirrhosis on biopsy. On the other hand people can have scores that suggest cirrhosis but are proven other wise on biopsy. In my opinion the best gauge of a fibroscan is to have more than one over time and let a doctor interpret the results along side of other things like scans and blood tests. I know Inflamation can drastically affect the score. If you had high LFTs it possible some of it is due to inflammation.

[oceanborn75]

I can confirm at least for me it was possible, my score was 15,7 kpa, so confirmed cirrhosis caused by fatty liver disease, 75 pounds less later and my score decreased to normal at 4.5kpa last week

[Zaka99 in reply to oceanborn75]

Interesting to see this thread again. After this I changed much of my habits… pretty much changed everything I could in my life. My last Fibroscan was 4.6kpa.

[AlwaysFighter in reply to Zaka99]

Dear Sir. Please share your overall strategy once more to reverse cirrhosis. My father also has cirrhosis from hepatitis C as well as ascites.

[Linakes in reply to AlwaysFighter]

I doubt he reversed cirrhosis. Maybe his first score was wrong. I also read about people who clearly have signs of cirrhosis, but have very low kap. I think fibroscan is highly innacurate