My husband’s fibroscan came back with a KPA of 21.5 and the hepetologist has said he has significant bridging fibrosis - she actually said that he doesn’t have cirrhosis (said multiple times) and that at this stage he can still reverse it if he loses weight?
What confuses me is that everywhere I read has said that cirrhosis is a KPA anything over 14 (or something along them lines) So how come she has said that he doesn’t? I mean, we are pleased obviously (not pleased it has got to this stage, but that there is a chance of reversal) but I am worried about false hope too.
Can anyone shed some light, or has anyone been in a similar situation?
Thank you
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Whatta
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Hi. I had a fibroscan about 2 months ago. I'm 60, female. That is very different to what I got told. Please bear in mind that they do factor blood tests into this. I was a drinker (heavy) - not had a drink in over 2 years bar last Sunday when I stupidly drank half a bottle of red wine as I was very upset about something. I rang my son and poured the rest of the wine down the sink. Not had any alcohol since.
Anyway, from the fibroscan the nurse very kindly gave me all my scores and wrote them down including what they meant. Again, I reiterate that they do take blood tests into account.
Child Pugh - class A - 5 points.
KPa 16.0. Liver stiffness score. F3/F4 cihrossis. F4 is the worst. But yes, she confirmed I have cihrossis.
CAP - 316. FAT LIVER. My score of 316 out of 400 top means that I have a fatty liver of over 67%.
I don't think I have helped at all. I think they took into account a lot of my blood tests in the past too which were high.
We don’t drink (only the odd time if we have a party, which very rare) and none since before Covid to be honest. We obviously won’t touch any drink now and have drastically changed our diet too.
We haven’t really kept an eye on his blood tests before because we didn’t understand the severity of liver disease, but I have found his last two blood test results and his alt was 135 but in his recent one it was 77.
I don’t see on the list were they have done an ast test.
Hiya. I'm wondering how much a fatty liver plays a part in all of this. I am so confused as to whether I have cihrossis, that why I HAD TO ASK for a fibroscan. My gp recently told me that I do not cihrossis. Yet my hepatoligist says I do which was confirmed by the fibroscan. I had a serious leg fracture in July 2021 and tested positive for Covid at a and e. I ended up in a coma two days after the op on my leg. I was fiagnosed with hepatic encephalopathy which put me in a coma. I had never had ascites, nor jaundice before but developed both. I was put on a ventilator and nearly died twice of kidney and liver failure. I caught pneumonia twice and nearly died of serious ammonia. I was told when i came round in September that I only had 20% of my liver working and I would die if I ever touched another drink. I was told I had decompensated cihrossis at this point. I have another ultrasound 2 months later, which said I had compensated cihrossis.
I find the whole thing baffling. One thing the hepatologist did say was that she didn't know how much covid had played a part in this. I have bought 2 cookbooks on ebay. One is diet for a fatty liver. And the other is the Mediterranean diet. I'm trying to get rid of the fat in my liver. I asked the fibrosis nurse if lowering the fat in my liver would change anything. She said no. I have severe scarring of my liver now. Caused by alcohol. My fault I'm afraid but I don't think that I was ever a raging alcoholic. I drank a lot around both my divorces.
We are using the Mediterranean diet as a guide to our diet - except we aren’t huge fish lovers except for tinned tuna, but use lean chicken breast instead. We have stayed away from processed food, takeaways, fizzy drinks, red meat.
We only drink water or unsweetened coffee. We typically have porridge with fruit and honey or some eggs on whole meal toast on a weekend for breakfast.
And we have swapped to whole meal/wholewheat and brown, rice,pasta and bread. We only use mozerella cheese and limit that two one or two times a week.
We eat lots of salad and veg with lean chicken breast - and have removed as much salt as possible - we don’t add any ontop of meals now. We have a smidge of salad cream or mayonnaise or Luella butter here and there, meal dependant - but we weigh it and keep track on nutracheck to stay way below the recommend salt and saturated fat levels it recommends (although this does make me nervous) but we have stripped everything else out.
I’ve also read that it’s better to stay away from fat free etc and have less of the full fat stuff (we do only have a smidge, like 10-20g if we have it)
I have found lots of people recommend so many different diets, low protien, low carb, no salt, no sugar, no fat - it was meaning that we were running out of things to eat!
We are getting out and doing lots of walking and my husband also goes on his excersize bike.
I’m hoping that all of this will help him (and myself tbh, as I am overweight too)
Can I ask what your KPA score was Golly? But I understand if you want to keep it private too.
Hiya. Thanks for your messages too. Child Pugh Class A - 5 point. KPa - liver stiffness of between F3 / F4. This means cihrossis with severe scarring for me anyway. F4 is the worst category. I have blood tests very frequently as I have severe osteoporosis. The fibrosis nurse factored these in. CAP - 316 out of 400. Over 67% of fat in my liver.
I weigh 10 Stone and I'm 5ft 2 and 3/4. I'm trying to diet but failing a bit.
I did get a new cookery book called BOSH. They have some really delicious and very healthy recipes in it. It's vegan or vegetarian. Avocado's are good too. Great with Worcester sauce. I have also bought a lot of supplements such as milk thistle etc. I buy from ebay. Apple cider vinegar too help with glucose spikes. I bought some apple cider gummies off amazon.. To aid weight loss, apparently if you eat a small salad before eating anything else, the weight will come off quicker.
Hope this helps. You guys sound like you are doing a much better job than me. Well done. If you have any healthy eating tips please let me know. Mind situation is alcohol related . Yours isn't which is excellent news. Thanks again for your messages. Best wishes Jo
I don’t understand the child Pugh, as he never got told anything about that?
His hepetologist just said he had significant bridging fibrosis, F3/F4 and that at this point it isn’t yet cirrhosis (Al though close) but he can turn it around.
His CAP score was 290.
I don’t really understand his blood tests, what’s good and what’s not, even though I’ve tried to search through this forum, so many people have different experiences.
I am hoping his high bmi and being over weight has over estimate his results - I keep everything crossed for that.
At the moment it is anxiety and worry that is getting me through this diet - and to be fair, even though he doesn’t worry like I do, my husband is really good at sticking by my decisions on what we eat etc, even if he misses certain foods - so it’s made it easier - he knows we have to do this.
I do have to say, we have calorie counted in the past and always failed. We are both a lot overweight - and while we stuck to our calorie deficits, we were still hungry because we were still eating processed foods and seeing how we could get as many tasty things in us within our Calories.
Our diet is now really back to basics, and we are no where near hitting our recommended calories because we have stripped all the rubbish out, but we are full, because we are eating proper meals. It is to the point we probably don’t need to calorie count because we come in way under most days - but we put stuff in the online diary to keep an eye on our saturated fat, salt and sugar intake!
Don’t get me wrong there are days that we are a little miserable because we want something really really tasty, but we know we have to do this - so it keeps us going!
Our fave treat is some Greek yogurt with blueberries, some squeezed lemon and a drizzle of honey!
I hope everything goes well for you in the future Golly - I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and read my very long rambles!
Be cautious of too much Worcester sauce as it can contain about 40% of a healthy persons recommended daily sodium amount (quite high for someone with fibrosis/cirrhosis). I would also check with your specialist regarding milk thistle - most hepatologists will strongly advise against it and other so called herbal/alternative therapies since they have the potential to do more harm than good.
Hi. Thank you for the advice. I didn't realise that Worcester sauce had so much sodium or about the milk thistle. Really appreciated. Best wishes Golly
Do not trust that test. Mine said 22 had biopsy. No liver issues not even fatty liver. I assume operator error due to not a common test for them. Also extra weight is know to increase it.
I’m hoping and praying this is the case, as he has had sonograms in the past and although they have detected fatty liver - nothing was ever said about fibrosis/cirrhosis
Look at your husband's platelet count, 90% 0f people with advanced liver disease have low platelets, ALT means little to nothing just on going inflammation.
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