Liver Health Check
Having a healthy liver that is free of significant stiffness (fibrosis) or scarring (cirrhosis) is associated with a lower rate of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications such as heart attack and stroke and can be assessed by the use of a quick (10-15min), non-invasive, painless FibroScan® providing you with an instant result.
Significant liver fibrosis can also result directly in liver-related complications such as cirrhosis and its associated complications including liver cancer. FibroScan® can help detect problems at an early, often more treatable stage prior to these being recognised by a regular ultrasound scan, blood tests or before you have any clinical signs or symptoms.
Liver Function
Why measure?
FibroScan®
Consultant Gastroenterologist in Worcester
DR GRAHAM BAKER
Consultant Gastroenterologist
YOUR LIVER HEALTH
What does my liver do?
Your liver is in the upper right part of your abdomen behind your rib cage. Its functions are numerous and include storing fuel for your body (sugars), processing of fats and proteins from the digestion of food, making proteins that are essential for blood clotting, processing medications that you may take and helping to remove poisons and toxins from your body. Your liver also makes bile which helps digest fats. It is vital that your liver is functioning properly to keep you well.
Your liver can be commonly damaged by having an unhealthy lifestyle especially consuming excess alcohol, smoking or being overweight. Having diabetes or high blood pressure are also closely linked to underlying liver problems. Your liver is very forgiving and can be so for many years, repairing itself from damage regularly. This can go undetected even until the later stages of liver damage and failure appear.
If you feel as though your lifestyle could be better and/or you are concerned about your liver a FibroScan® can provide the liver health assessment you need.
YOUR LIVER HEALTH
Why measure liver function?
Liver blood tests are used as a screen to see if there is any evidence of liver damage or an inflamed liver, or to monitor an existing liver problem.
Common reasons for checking liver tests include:
General health check
To help diagnose specific liver disorders if you have particular symptoms or signs such as jaundice
As a routine precaution before and after starting certain medicines e.g. statins to check if they may be causing liver damage
In cases of other medical conditions such as diabetes that may increase your risk of developing liver problems
Concerns about your lifestyle including alcohol intake or obesity
YOUR LIVER HEALTH
What is a FibroScan®?
A quick (10-15min), non-invasive, painless scan providing you with an instant, highly accurate result about the state of your liver health by determining the presence of liver stiffness (fibrosis).
A FibroScan® is able to detect liver fibrosis at a stage well before any clinical signs or symptoms may occur and before a conventional ultrasound may show up any abnormality. Significant liver stiffness can be present even in the context of normal liver blood tests and so the scan offers the ability to detect a liver problem long before it would be traditionally detected, at an often more treatable stage.
You will be required to not eat for the 3 hours prior to the test and you will lie down on your back on top of the examination couch whilst the scan is performed. Loose fitting clothing is advised which can be adjusted but no removal of clothing is required. The probe is placed at the skin’s surface and a painless mechanical pulse will be felt each time a reading is taken.
The procedure is harmless and there are no restrictions on how many times an individual may wish to have a FibroScan®. It is a valuable tool in the monitoring of any progression of liver disease and can provide an accurate, quantifiable result, that can be used as a comparative measure to determine the success of any lifestyle adaptation or treatment.
Liver Health Check Packages
Standard
Premium
Premium Plus +
Book Your Liver Health Check
Book a Liver Health Check
If you are a self-funding patient then please complete the form below to register your interest and receive further information including the package fees. If you wish to use your private medical insurance then please instead click the link to book an appointment. Insurance companies will often require qualifying information to authorise this scan for you and the code that your insurance provider will need for FibroScan® is IM326. They will provide the necessary pre-authorisation code that you require in order to secure your booking.