Florida Institute offers free liver scans in Lakewood Ranch

The Florida Research Institute in Lakewood Ranch is using Liver Awareness Month to launch a new test aimed at helping patients with Type 2 diabetes learn more about their liver health.

The test, called the LiverMultiScan (LMS), non-invasively assesses levels of damage and fat in the liver. It is not currently covered by insurance and would normally cost $500 per participant. 

“We can give this for no charge to our patients who are treating type two diabetes,” said Therese Aragona, director of business development at Florida Research Institute. “The test isn't paid by insurance yet, because it's so new to the market.”

Aragona said the scan takes about 15 minutes and shows three key elements that can show liver damage — fibrosis, amount of fat in the liver and iron loads. Information from the test is used as a tool to give doctors a better understanding of a patient’s health and shows more detailed information than a traditional fiber scan.

“This is the way this is saving lives, or at least making people aware,” Aragona said. "Some people can be walking around with fatty liver disease and cirrhosis without having any symptoms. So if you catch this early enough, you can at least see what are things that you can do now.”

Aragona said one person who received the test knew she had a condition in her liver but didn’t know how bad it was. 

“After we ended up doing the scan for her, there was a lot more going on,” Aragona said. “So now her doctor is able to see if there is anything more they would need to do for her."

The institute was scheduled to do the free exams only during October, which is Liver Awareness month, but they’ve been able to extend that window to January.