What factors can lead to falsely elevated fibrosis readings on FibroScan (e.g., consuming sugar before the scan)?

I recommend 3 hours of fasting before performing a FibroScan. Liver stiffness may not be equivalent to fibrosis stages in the following conditions: liver congestion (right-sided heart failure, Fontan-associated liver disease), active liver inflammation (alcohol, active viral or autoimmune hepatitis)...

Multiple factors can contribute to false elevation in vibration-controlled elastography (VCTE):

• Hepatic congestion
  • Eating within 3 hours of the
  • Congestive heart failure
  • Pulmonary hypertension
  • Hepatic venous outflow obstruction
• Hepatic inflammation
  • ALT >300
  • Excess alcohol
• Extrahepatic factors ...

Sugar is not the problem. When you eat something fatty it causes a lot more blood to flow to the liver to increase the bile flow. The influx of blood causes the liver to appear stiffer causing an increase in kPa.

Any food within 3 hours aside from sips of water can falsely elevate liver stiffness. Food consumption prior can sometimes lead to very falsely elevated stiffness levels so always best to repeat when fasting.