Find Out More About FibroScan® and How It Identifies Liver Health

At Digestive Health Associates of Texas, we are glad to provide our patients with accurate diagnosis and precise care using state-of-the-art devices. This technology helps our teams offer cutting-edge care, more speedy visits, and superior outcomes compared to other techniques.

By providing FibroScan (liver elastography) to our Dallas, TX patients, we will be able to monitor their liver health and diagnose and oversee several liver diseases. For additional information about how FibroScan can help you improve your liver health, get in touch with your nearest Digestive Health Associates of Texas to request an appointment today.

What should I know about FibroScan?

As a noninvasive liver exam, FibroScan involves ultrasound imaging to get a complete vision of your liver health, assess the development of liver disease, and work to uncover liver problems. During this quick exam, your gastrointestinal physician will request that you lie flat and place your right hand beneath your head. Your provider will pass a handheld device, much like those involved in ultrasound exams, on the abdominal region. As we administer this exam, we can:

• Verify fibrosis of the liver
• Test the hardness of the liver to indicate liver scarring
• Monitor liver wellness after a liver transplant
• Detect problems in the liver
• Evaluate the development of liver concerns

In most cases, FibroScan is often utilized instead of having a more invasive liver biopsy. Most people choose this technique because there is no need to take more time off of daily life or seek out a person to drive them home after the exam, and it is virtually painless. While this exam might not necessarily dismiss the need for a biopsy of the liver, it permits your provider to obtain fast images with better accuracy.

How is FibroScan performed?

During your FibroScan test at Digestive Health Associates of Texas, the special handpiece will utilize sound frequencies through your liver. The probe will assess approximately three cubic centimeters within the liver – nearly 100 times the volume of a liver biopsy. When the acoustic pulses are used, they will require more time to travel through a healthy liver. However, the ultrasound pulses will bounce through a stiff liver pretty quickly, and even quicker the more diseased the liver is.

The liver elastography test will also pinpoint the level of fat tissue in the liver by observing the ultrasound attenuation rate. When the sound pulses are delivered, they are received into fatty livers more easily than healthier livers. The fatty liver will have a higher attenuation rate, whereas the healthy liver will have a lower attenuation rate.

All of this information will be recorded with our advanced technology, which lets your GI doctor discuss your outcomes with you at the same time as your procedure. You can talk to your provider about questions throughout your test, or you could wait and ask them after the results are shared with you in-depth.

Who would need a FibroScan test?

If you experience signs or symptoms of liver conditions, like pain in the abdomen, dark urine, yellow-shaded skin or eyes, or another problem, your Dallas, TX GI provider might suggest a FibroScan to evaluate your liver health.

Based on your issues, health history, and more, our team may utilize FibroScan to assess or help our confirmation of:

• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
• Hepatitis B or C
• Alcohol-related liver disease
• Iron overload
• NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis)

Get a FibroScan in Dallas, TX

If you find that you or a member of your family has symptoms and signs of a liver concern, have had liver disease in the past, or you're aware of a family record of liver conditions, your gastrointestinal physician could propose a FibroScan test. This swift and effective option may help track liver disease and measure the overall well-being of the liver, providing a more accurate way to address and detect liver diseases.

To hear more about FibroScan and how it could allow you to support your liver and total well-being, contact Digestive Health Associates of Texas today to set up a consultation.