Hi
I'm new to the group. I was referred to a Heptologist as my liver and spleen was enlarged. I had a fibroscan completed last week. The results needless to say bowled me over and now im left so bewildered and confused. One number was 14.5 and another was 345. I was told i need to lose weight. Im at a loss, feel overwhelmed and confused.
Gail
Welcome to our merry band Gail.
Hopefully we can shed some light on issues for you.
Fibroscan measures two things -
1) density of the liver i.e. any fibrous tissue and this is measured in a score called kPa. This runs from 0-75 kPa with various bands across it where it starts to indicate changes in liver tissue density some times referred to as a F value where F0 is normal liver up to F4 which is cirrhosis. (I will come back to this in a minute).
2) Fatty infiltration in the liver measured as a CAP value. Your 345 figure will be 345 CAP.
Your CAP score shows how much of the liver is fatty and gives a Steatosis Grade.
A cap score of 238 - 260 is S1 and shows that up to 11-33% of liver is subject to fatty change.
A cap score of 260 - 290 is S2 and shows that 34-66% of liver is fatty.
Anything above 290 is S3 and 67% or more of the liver is fatty.
So, your score of 345 CAP indicates you have significant fatty change within the liver and will be why doctor has advised weight loss and dietary change.
Are you over weight? Are you diabetic? On any other medications? The reason I ask is that these are all things that contribute to the fastest growing liver disease in the western world (now over taking alcohol) and that is a condition known as Non Alcohol Related Fatty Liver Disease. Details about this condition can be found on the British Liver Trust website at:- britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...
Back to your kPa score - now this is by no means definite and depends on what any blood results are saying. A kPa score of 14.5 where NAFLD is the cause of liver disease could be fairly high up the F scale. I am not going to say as high as cirrhosis (but possibly could be). Fibroscan can't differentiate between ongoing liver inflammation and actual fibrotic tissue so if you have elevated blood results and ongoing inflammation at this time that figure could be falsely inflated - you need to find out if this is the case.
One good thing about NAFLD is that results can be reversed and major improvements seen with positive lifestyle changes, a good and healthy diet and increase in exercise.
This must be all quite scary if it has come out of the blue but you probably can do something about it to improve those figures.
All the best, Katie
Thank you Katie, i am overweight and was diagnosed last year with type 2 diabetes, hence how they found i had enlarged liver and spleen. I do take a lot of meds for other conditions too. I just feel lost as to where to begin. I know that my bloods were elevated. They have done another full set of bloods. Not feeling too good to start off but feel worse since.
Thanks for help
Gail
Good morning Gailio,
Welcome to this friendly supportive forum.
Can I ask you to take a minute to read our community guidelines in the pinned posts.
I can see you have had a lot of helpful answers already .
May I suggest you seek further appointment with your liver team to clarify a diagnosis ? ( I appreciate this may be a telephone consultation at this time )
You can also call our nurse led helpline on 0800 652 7330 Mon-Fri 10am-3pm.
The nurse specialists would be happy to chat
Take care,
Trust9
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