Co-hosts Louise Campbell and Roger Green are joined by friend of the podcast, Naim Alkhouri, and new guest, Professor James O’Beirne, to discuss learning from liver disease in Australia and developing improved models for patient identification and risk stratification.
This conversation starts with Louise discussing some of the improvements in patient motivation and compliance as a result of FibroScan when administered in specialty sites. From here Roger asks Louise and James how they envision practical implementation of this kind of study design in other countries. Louise speculates on how this might work in 3rd world countries where there are large distances between communities and concludes it is quite feasible when dieticians and other allied professionals are empowered and can conduct scans. Naim discusses the extensive free-scan program that Arizona Liver Health offers which is typically focused on patients with type 2 diabetes, obesity and other risk factors. James notes that one element of the design is that it can provide cost analysis to demonstrate cost effectiveness and generate public funding in single-payer countries. Naim identifies limitations in the design and ways these might be ameliorated over time. As the conversation closes, James suggests that one cost saving might come from reducing treatment for patients who do not have high risk of disease.
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