Meal ingestion markedly increases liver stiffness suggesting the need for liver stiffness determination in fasting conditions

Abstract Introduction The introduction of noninvasive liver stiffness (LS) determination has heralded a new stage in the diagnosis and treatment of liver fibrosis. Aim We evaluated the effect of food intake on LS in patients with different degrees of liver disease. Patients and methods We evaluated 24 patients (F≤1, n = 11 and F> 1, n = 13). LS (Fibroscan®) and portal blood flow (PBF) (Doppler ultrasound) were studied before and 30 min after ingestion of a standard liquid meal. Results Food intake increased PBF (51 ± 10%, p   1). Hemodynamic and LS values returned to baseline pre-meal levels within 2 hours. Conclusion LS increases markedly after ingestion of a standard meal, irrespective of the degree of fibrosis. Our results strongly suggest that LS should be measured in fasting conditions.