Fibroscan Results

[cccd]

Hi All,

My gastroentologist referred me for a fibroscan which I had today after mild discomfort under right rib cage and slightly elevated ALT of 60. My diabetes check was normal.... so no problems there. I am 30 years of age and do not drink alcohol at all. Neither do I take any medication. I am overweight at 5 foot 10 and weigh 109kg, however I used to play rugby and have always been quite 'stocky'.

I also had an ultrasound around 3 weeks ago which my gastro interpreted as being consistent with NAFLD.

The result of my fibroscan was a median of 7.6. The consultant who performed it did not seem concerned at all, at which point I asked what a normal individuals score would be and his reply was 'it could be around the score you have or lower'.

Would someone please be able help me with the following:

- Is this reversible or is this long term damage?

- Is this mild fibrosis?

- Will me losing weight and exercising more help to improve my liver and in turn my fibroscan score?

Thanks all for any help you can provide.

C.

[jbrking]

Hi. At aged 40 my ALT was nearly 200 but everything else ok. I rarely drank and was a little overweight so non alcoholic fatty liver disease was diagnosed. I’m on medication for it a feno-fibrate and more recently a statin added. I’m now 50 and my ALT has been stable at around 70 for the last 2 years. I have regular scans and my liver is large but no signs of stiffness/fibrosis. I struggled to lose any weight and have joint issues which makes exercise extremely difficult. If you can I would definitely lose weight and exercise and I think you’ll see a major difference. Start now and I bet that your results will be much lower and back into the normal range. Good luck.

[cccd in reply to jbrking]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I am going to go for it...... I hope you are feeling well?

My liver consultant was actually not to bothered about the result as there was 10 shots on the fibroscan that ranged from 6.6 to 7.8 so the median of 7.6. He even said that it was a fairly normal score by dr google scared the life out of me.

My fear was that the fibrosis I had was non reversible!

[jbrking in reply to cccd]

I am doing good thank you. It is scary when you first hear about fibrosis but if you read articles and have a great doctor it can help you understand more. Your score is slightly above the norm but if you keep in good health you can prevent it getting worse and live a normal life. Regular blood tests and scans will guide you and give you confidence that you can do this. My results are stable and I’ve had no further damage to my liver. My doctor reassured me that there’s no reason why I can’t halt any more damage and it never progressing to anything more serious. So far so good!

[cccd in reply to jbrking]

Absolutely, I’ve got a follow up for bloods and scan in 3 months. We also agreed I’d lose 9kg to get me down to 99kg! Do you think the fibroscan score could reside back into the normal bracket?

C.

[jbrking in reply to cccd]

Absolutely. If caught quickly enough and treated right (eg good, healthy diet etc) it can be reversed. Obviously it depends how long your liver has been like this without you knowing (I didn’t have a clue about mine, my only symptom was v tired so doc ran loads of blood tests). But even if you’ve had for a long time you can stop it getting worse. Your ALT will definitely lower if you start being kind to it (my doc explained simply that when the liver isn’t happy for whatever reason it gives out these enzymes called ALT which is detected in blood test) so get that back in a normal range and your liver will be happy again. There are many guides on good foods for liver, mostly common sense healthy eating which we’ve probably all forgotten to do cos junk food tastes soooo good! Treat your result as a kick start to look after yourself more and there’s no reason why you can’t heal or stop it getting worse.

[cccd in reply to jbrking]

Absolutely, junk food, massive portions, less greens and less exercise with office jobs are doing serious damage.

I needed this wake up call. I’m glad you are doing well and thank you for taking the time to advise.

C

[jbrking in reply to cccd]

You’re welcome. Update when you have your next test in 3 months.

[cccd in reply to jbrking]

I will for sure. Take care

[cccd in reply to cccd]

An interesting and reliable source for those who want to read about improvement in NAFLD and Fibroscan scores:

academic.oup.com/gastro/art...