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Press Release | 09.04.2021

Echosens Publishes New White Paper, Highlights Impact on U.S. Financial Solvency

July 16, 2019

The Economic Tsunami of Liver Disease

WALTHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Echosens, a high-technology company offering the FibroScan family of products, today announces the release of its white paper “The Economic Tsunami of Liver Disease,” articulating how a disease once considered uncommon in the 1980s is now a major epidemic. Author Dr. Stephen A. Harrison, M.D., FACP, FAASLD, COL (ret.), USA, MC, visiting professor of Hepatology, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, medical director, Pinnacle Clinical Research provides expert guidance on how liver disease is poised to further escalate U.S. healthcare costs, and presents solutions for early detection and lifestyle changes.

Dr. Harrison says, “In this white paper, we explore the growing body of data that show how nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming recognized as a significant burden to patients, providers, and the overall healthcare system. One study concluded that the costs associated with the care for NAFLD were significantly higher than matched controls with similar metabolic profiles, even before the introduction of pharmacological treatments.”

He stresses that recent advances in diagnosis make it possible for PCPs to be more proactive and efficient in the screening of patients with T2DM and NAFLD. NAFLD, which affects roughly 100 million Americans, costs $32 billion annually to the U.S. healthcare system, almost as much as the $34 billion annual costs of strokes.

“In this white paper, we explore and establish the role of clinicians, including PCPs, to utilize cost effective risk stratification tools, such as FibroScan, a painless five-minute procedure as part of an overall workup to help diagnose NALFD early on,” explains Dr. Harrison. “As part of an overall patient assessment at the point of care, non-invasive FibroScan based assessments may reduce the significant specialist referral costs and with earlier identification of potentially advancing disease, support earlier interventions to improve outcomes.”