This is a test of how stiff the liver is. We know that the normal liver is not very stiff whereas the cirrhotic liver is pretty stiff. This machine sends sound waves through the liver (like an ultrasound) and measures how quickly it travels. The stiffer the liver, the quicker the sound waves go.

Difficulties:

May not work as well if you are overweight


Not sure what it means if you have cysts and other lumps in the liver that may get in the way of the sound wave