Fibroscan

[SteveHepC]

Does anyone know if Fibroscan has been approved for general use, of is it still being evaluated and tested?

I'm desperate for a good non-invasive test that shows fibrosis level.

[stef2011]

by the way also being fat (bmi>27) is a big problem because stiffness and wave propagation is different, with bmi so high as 27 or very obese over 30 fibroscan readings cannot be done even by using XL probe

and this is surely a problem in US (maybe the reason they dont use it) where obesity is so common while in europe and asia being less than bmi 23-25 is the majority of population and over bmi 27-30 rare

[stef2011]

it also matters the experienced doctor to read the fibroscan (not experinced doctors with fibroscan are useless) because the fibroscan detects stiffness which is the sum of fibrosis, inflammation and if present fatty liver, in case of advanced cirrhosis even nodules add some stiffness

once cirrhotic the fibroscan will register by monitoring the worsening of cirrhosis and its stages.

so in case of fatty liver or alt flares the reading is not correlated to the fibrosis only, any decent doctor know this when reading fibroscan results

[stef2011]

US is totally useless to see a cirrhosis, it just detects a destroyed liver with nodules which is a very advanced stage of cirrhosis, according to the patients end stage (not all cirrhotic livers go decompensated fast), early cirrhosis which is still reversable blocking the source of damage is totally missed by US and blood tests, not a single sign of it.i had it and no sings of it except the nodules of advanced cirrhosis and fibroscan, luckily it is all regressed to normal liver now except some small nodules

in case of any doubts a biopsy will rule out but biopsies are not used anymore in europe we have fibroscans since the early 2000, enough time to build statistics over thousands of patients

[Diana66]

I do not think that a simple ultrasound can can rule out the Fibroscan findings. If so they will base the diagnosis only on ultrasounds which obliviously it is not the case

I am not sure why would you believe more the findings of an ultrasound versus a fibroscan?

[quayle]

Steve DON"T BOTHER I Had one and it was 21 6points over the limit for total chirrosis,scarred the daylights out of me.After many ultrra sounds and one done after te Fibroscam (that's what they sould be called).NO CIRRHOSIS,NO PORTAL HYPERTENTION< NO NODULATION<NORMAL BLOOD FLOW,final diagnosis,slightly fatty liver,IT WAS WRONG.if you want to hear more just let me know

[orleans]

don't see what you're taliking about.