32 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
Those few minutes can spare patients months of more aggressive treatment— and potentially a liver transplant— since the issue would be diagnosed at its earliest stages.
“ I was scared at first,” Gabriella said,“ but after the doctor explained it, I felt a lot better. Before I found out, I wasn’ t doing anything. I was just being homey and lazy.”
But the advice given by her physicians hit home.
“ I joined a sport— which helped me, because I started exercising almost every day,” said Gabriella, whose mother, Rosaria, asked that neither one of their true names be used, due to Gabriella’ s age.“ I couldn’ t eat junk food because I was involved in sports and being in sports really helped.”
Her mom agreed, saying,“ I saw that she herself made the decision to go on a diet, eat more vegetables, exercise. She started one sport and then started another one. I saw she was the one who wanted to change and that she was the one who made those changes. She was the one who really spearheaded the effort.”
Susan’ s journey started innocently enough. When she moved from Michigan, she wanted to get established with a primary care doctor.
“ When I moved to Tallahassee, I didn’ t know anything,” she said.“ I didn’ t know the doctors, but I did, or course, recognize Florida State University so, I thought, that would be a good place to look. Being from Michigan, we had Michigan State and the University of Michigan Health System connected to universities, which I think is important.”
“ I was surprised,” Susan said.“ I had no idea what it was. I have no family history of liver problems and I was having no symptoms.”
It was Susan’ s bloodwork that tipped off Whiddon, who then suggested the liver scan.
“ When we did her labs and her liver enzymes were up a little bit, I said,‘ well, you know, we’ ve got this new machine. Let’ s just check you out and see. It’ s probably liver steatosis,’” Whiddon said.“ I can’ t recall if she was an S3 or an S4, but she was an F4.”
Liver steatosis is graded on a scale of S0 to S4, with 0 meaning not fatty and 4 being severely fatty. Liver fibrosis is based on a scale of F0 to F4, with 4 meaning the patient has progressed to cirrhosis.
Susan and Gabriella are just two examples of many patients who could benefit from a liver scan, but in order to get this tool in the hands of primary care physicians, help is needed. According to Whiddon, the cost of a new scanner is close to $ 400,000, a prohibitive cost for primary care clinics such as FSU PrimaryHealth. Whiddon said a goal of the current feasibility study is to determine if these machines can make a difference in patients’ lives and, in the end, lead to early diagnosis, less aggressive treatment and, therefore, reduce the overall cost of care.
Another thing Susan and Gabriella have in common is that neither had symptoms that would make them suspect a liver disorder.
Photo: A liver scan is a non-invasive test used to help determine the health of a person’ s liver. Here, Whiddon performs the scan on Susan Hayes, who said the only thing she feels is a slight“ thumping” on her abdomen.