Find Out How FibroScan® Can Evaluate Your Liver Health

10/10/2022

At Hattiesburg GI Associates, PLLC, our team is proud to provide our patients with cutting-edge methods for treating disease. These advanced tools help our specialists offer the latest care, more speedy appointments, and optimal outcomes as opposed to other approaches.

By offering FibroScan (liver elastography) to our Hattiesburg, MS patients, our physicians are able to check their liver vitality as well as identify and supervise various liver diseases. For more information about how FibroScan can help you improve your liver vitality, reach out to your nearest Hattiesburg GI Associates, PLLC to set up a consultation now.

What should I know about FibroScan?

As a special liver test, FibroScan makes use of ultrasound technology to access a full observation of your liver health, monitor the stages of liver disease, and work to identify liver disease. When you have this quick exam, your GI physician will ask you to position yourself on your back and put your right hand below your head. Your provider will utilize a handheld tool, much like the ones involved in ultrasound tests, on the liver. When we carry out this procedure, we are able to:

  • Measure the health of the liver to determine the presence of liver scarring
  • Diagnose conditions that affect the liver
  • Track liver health following a transplanted liver
  • Diagnose liver fibrosis
  • Oversee the advancement of liver problems

In many circumstances, FibroScan could be utilized instead of undergoing a more invasive liver biopsy. Many people opt for this approach since there isn't a requirement to take more time outside of work or seek out someone to drive them home from the appointment. Plus, it is virtually painless. Although the FibroScan might not necessarily dismiss the requirement for a biopsy of the liver, it permits your specialist to obtain prompt results with improved accuracy.

How is FibroScan performed?

During your FibroScan procedure at Hattiesburg GI Associates, PLLC, the special device will send sound energy into your liver. The probe will assess roughly three cubic centimeters of the liver – around 100 times the quantity of a biopsy. As soon as the ultrasound pulses are used, it would require more time to travel through a normally functioning liver. Alternatively, the ultrasonic waves will travel through a stiff liver rather fast, and potentially faster the stiffer the liver is.

The liver elastography procedure can also determine the quantity of fat tissue in the liver by monitoring the amplitude and intensity of ultrasound waves. When the sound pulses are released, they are absorbed into diseased livers more easily than healthier livers. The fatty liver has an increased attenuation rate, and the healthy liver will show a smaller attenuation rate.

All of this information will be documented using our computer technology, which lets your gastroenterologist discuss your results with you at the same time as your procedure.

Why would I require a FibroScan exam?

When you experience signs or symptoms of liver problems, such as pain in the abdomen, brown urine, yellow-colored skin or eyes, or other liver-related problems, your Hattiesburg, MS digestive health doctor might suggest a FibroScan to evaluate your liver wellness.

Depending on your symptoms, medical status, and additional factors, our team might utilize FibroScan to monitor or aid our verification of:

Get a FibroScan in Hattiesburg, MS

If you find that you or a member of your family shows symptoms or signs of a liver condition, have had liver disease in the past, or you're aware of a family history of problems with the liver, your gastrointestinal doctor could propose a FibroScan exam. This swift and effective exam can work to monitor liver disease and measure the overall well-being of the liver, providing a more precise way to address and detect liver conditions.

To find out more regarding FibroScan and how it could help you preserve your liver and comprehensive wellness, contact Hattiesburg GI Associates, PLLC now to request an appointment.