Learn About FibroScan® and How It Assesses Liver Conditions

At Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, our team is glad to provide patients in DFW with diagnosis and treatment options utilizing innovative technology. These tools help our specialists offer advanced services, faster visits, and better outcomes.

By providing FibroScan (liver elastography), our providers can observe the liver's health and diagnose and oversee several different conditions affecting the liver. To obtain additional details regarding how FibroScan can help you improve your liver vitality, call your area Texas Digestive Disease Consultants to book a consultation now.

What should I know about FibroScan?

As a special liver assessment, FibroScan makes use of ultrasound waves to deliver a full image of your liver function, observe the stages of liver conditions, and work to show liver disease. With this quick exam, your GI doctor will ask you to position yourself on your back and put one hand under your head. We will run a handheld tool, similar to the ones involved in ultrasound scans, over the abdomen. When we carry out this test, we can:

• Diagnose conditions in the liver
• Observe liver health after a liver transplant
• Diagnose scar tissue in the liver
• Assess the hardness of the liver to indicate scarring in the liver
• Track the development of liver disease

In most situations, FibroScan might be utilized instead of undergoing a more involved liver biopsy. Many people lean toward this technique since there isn't a need to take more time off of daily life or seek out someone to drive them home from the appointment, and it is virtually painless. While this procedure might not always eliminate the requirement for a biopsy test, it permits your provider to acquire fast results with better accuracy.

How is FibroScan performed?

Throughout your FibroScan exam at Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, the special device will release sound energy into the liver. The probe will examine approximately three cubic centimeters of the liver – nearly 100 times the quantity of a liver biopsy. As soon as the acoustic pulses are emitted, they will require more time to make their way through a normal liver. Conversely, the sound pulses will absorb through a stiff liver very swiftly, and potentially quicker the more damaged the liver is.

The FibroScan test will also pinpoint the amount of fat tissue in the liver by monitoring the amplitude and intensity of ultrasound waves. When the sound energies are delivered, they will be absorbed into damaged livers more quickly than livers that are healthier. The diseased liver will have a higher attenuation rate, although the liver that is healthy will show a lower rate of attenuation.

All of this info will be documented using our advanced technology and lets your GI doctor discuss your results with you at the same time as your procedure. You can talk to your specialist about questions in your test, or you could wait and speak about them once the outcomes are shared with you in more detail.

When would you have a FibroScan exam?

When you show signs or symptoms of liver conditions, including abdominal pain, brown urine, yellowing of the skin or eyes, or a different issue, your DFW digestive health specialist may suggest a FibroScan to evaluate your liver health.

According to your problems, health record, and more, our team might utilize FibroScan to monitor or help the verification of:

• Alcohol-related liver conditions
• Hepatitis B or C
• Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
• Hemochromatosis
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

Receive a FibroScan in DFW

If you find that you or a member of your family experiences symptoms and signs of liver disease, have previously had liver disease, or you're aware of a family record of problems with the liver, your GI provider could advise a FibroScan exam. This swift and effective technique may work to observe liver disease and assess the total vitality of your liver, providing a more precise way to address and detect liver issues.

To learn more about FibroScan and how it could help you support your liver and comprehensive health, call Texas Digestive Disease Consultants now to request an appointment.