I think that question has to be answered by the doc. Fasting before a fibroscan gives a better reading, so I am told. My advice is, if you can afford it, do it now. With little scarring you will only need 12 week treatment. With so little scarring you might not be eligible when the medicines eventually get PBS listing. kindly

My experience of Fibroscan is rather hit and miss.

In 2014 I had one, the nurse said it’s hard to get a reading with very large people and very small people.
However, she was pleased that she had no trouble with mine that day and I was very underweight. Apparently the signal can ‘bounce of the rib-cage and other bones’. She said I was 8.7.

My next fibroscan was early this year. The operator said he ‘knew nothing about livers’ and couldn’t access my notes as he didn’t work in that hospital. He had terrible trouble getting a reading on me. He admitted he was in a hurry taking a machine to another hospital miles away in a taxi, but he kept trying.

In the end, he took a reading from around the back with my arm down. He decided the average from this angle was 6.1 – I didn’t trust it whatsoever. The original readings around the front were fluctuating from 4 (more center) to 9 (to the right). 9 would make sense to me over a year after original reading of 8.7 but hey, what do I know?

Now I am labelled ‘Mild’ and my new consultant doesn’t seem remotely interested in my case, whereas my previous consultant told me after taking bloods and previous fibroscan into account, that I ‘needed to treat this year’ (2014).

So that’s it, I am now apparently mild and ‘moderate’ has gone out of the window., so no help from NHS England for me !

Had my first fibroscan six weeks ago at london clinic,carried out by a very competent specialist hepatology nurse.score 6.5.One week later had my first nhs appointment with again a very competent nurse.score 5.Both nurses carried out the scan in exactly the same way.The only difference was for the first scan i had fasted and the second one i had had food two hrs earlier.The scans were done at the same time of day. I think to get the most accurate score you would need to have a number of scans,lets just say six or eight,a few days apart and take the median average as the score.Perhaps a clinic somewhere could trial this.

Some have been told, eating before a fibroscan would make your score higher as it thinks the food inside you is part of your liver. There was an amusing debate on another forum where we all considered eating a huge fry-up before visiting our NHS hospitals ha ha ! Strange that there seems to be a pattern of NHS fibroscans in the last year coming out lower than any others taken elsewhere. I know of someone who had a 9 fibroscan and as they were worried a year or two later so they had a biopsy and suffered quite a bit after…They just got a letter back after quite a long wait saying ‘Mild’ This was the same time as I got my ‘Mild’ and when the new drugs were starting NICE approval. I believe ‘moderate’ has gone in the NHS now, it’s just ‘mild’ or ‘serious’. ie Treat v no treatment.

I think if he had HCV and had it for years and then he could treat and treat it right away, then he would. That’s just a no brainer, A lot of people have been waiting years for an effective treatment …sure lets wait some more! ..no thank you

I second that. You said it Paul.

I have had it up to here with doctors telling me I have no worries because my liver panels are all good. Some people seem to get symptoms directly related to liver function but all my symptoms are central nervous system stuff. Chronic fatigue, random stabbing pains, facial neuralgia, brain fog, general zombification. These symptoms reduce quality of life to minimal, yet doctors seem to still be oblivious !!!
It makes me crazy.

dt