Florida Healthy Liver Program™
How a simple scan can change lives
The Florida Healthy Liver Program™ began when Mayo Clinic Florida donated an Echosens FibroScan to FSU PrimaryHealth ™, an FSU Health clinical practice located in an area of Southwest Tallahassee, Florida, that was considered a “health care desert” before the clinic opened in 2019.
Now, with more than two years’ worth of patient data, The Florida Healthy Liver Program™ is showing the benefit of early detection of liver disease – particularly in the primary care setting.
“The data tell us that liver disease is hiding in plain sight,” said Beau Toskich, M.D., who was instrumental in the creation of the Florida Healthy Liver Program. “Many patients with common conditions like obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia already have significant liver disease long before symptoms appear.”
Toskich, an FSU College of Medicine alumnus and professor of Interventional Radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, said when he began to see many patients with advanced liver disease, he knew something had to be done. Working with Mayo, he arranged to have an Echosens FibroScan® donated to his alma mater.
Since then, the numbers speak for themselves. Read more .
The data
With more than 200 patients screened at FSU PrimaryHealth™, data indicates a high prevalence of liver disease.
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6 in 10 patients demonstrated hepatic steatosis
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One-third demonstrated severe steatosis
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More than 4 in 10 patients demonstrated significant fibrosis
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Advanced fibrosis was identified even among adolescents
Nationally, 30-40% of U.S. adults are estimated to have MASLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) — the majority undiagnosed. Prevalence is rising in parallel with obesity and type 2 diabetes, making MASLD one of the fastest-growing chronic disease burdens in modern medicine.
