Information for the public

Tests for liver disease

The health of your liver is an important factor when making decisions about your care and about drug treatment. You will be offered a test for liver disease when you are first referred for specialist care, and at regular intervals afterwards.

Whether or not you have liver disease, or how far it has progressed, can be checked either by a scan that measures liver stiffness (a sign of fibrosis, or scarring of the liver), or by a procedure called a liver biopsy. (This scan is not currently recommended in children and young people. See Testing for liver disease in children and young people below.)

The scan is done by placing a device called a probe on your abdomen. If you have a biopsy, you will be offered a local anaesthetic to help ease any discomfort you may feel. During the biopsy, a fine needle is inserted though the abdomen to remove a small sample of the liver.

Testing for liver disease in adults

A doctor or nurse should discuss the different types of tests for liver disease with you, including how accurate they are and whether they may cause any harm.

If it is the first time you are having a test for liver disease, you should be offered a scan (called transient elastography). Depending on the results of this scan, you may be offered drug treatment, or you might be offered a liver biopsy to confirm the results. Your doctor will also consider other factors when deciding whether to offer a biopsy, such as your age, whether your liver tests are normal, and the amount of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) found in your bloodstream (called viral load).

If you and your doctor decide you do not need drug treatment at the moment, you should be offered an annual follow-up scan for liver disease.

Testing for liver disease in children and young people

If you are a child or young person with chronic hepatitis B, whether you will be offered a liver biopsy depends on whether your liver tests are normal (called liver function) and on the amount of HBV found in your bloodstream (called viral load).

A doctor or nurse should discuss liver biopsies with you, or with a parent or carer, if appropriate. This discussion should cover the accuracy of the procedure, and whether it may cause any harm. Young children who have a liver biopsy should be offered a general anaesthetic if this is more suitable for them than having the procedure under a local anaesthetic.

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