About the FAST Score (FibroScan-AST)
The FAST (FibroScan-AST) score combines two readings from a single FibroScan — liver stiffness (LSM) and the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) — with serum AST to estimate the probability of at-risk (fibrotic) NASH: steatohepatitis with a NAFLD activity score of at least 4 and fibrosis of at least F2. It returns a value from 0 to 1. At or below 0.35 at-risk NASH is effectively ruled out (sensitivity 0.90; negative predictive value up to 0.94 on external validation); at or above 0.67 it is ruled in (specificity 0.90); the 0.35–0.67 grey zone needs further assessment. FAST captures both fibrosis (through stiffness) and activity (through CAP and AST) in one visit, which is what a fibrosis-only score such as FIB-4 cannot do.
Formula
FAST = eˣ / (1 + eˣ), where x = −1.65 + 1.07·ln(LSM) + 2.66×10⁻⁸·CAP³ − 63.3·AST⁻¹- LSM
- Liver stiffness in kPa. Natural log, coefficient 1.07.
- CAP
- Controlled attenuation parameter in dB/m. Enters cubed, coefficient 2.66×10⁻⁸.
- AST
- U/L. Enters as its reciprocal (1/AST), coefficient −63.3.
- LSM is in kPa, CAP in dB/m and AST in U/L — the coefficients are calibrated to those units and no conversion is applicable.
- CAP enters as a cube, so a modest change in CAP produces a larger change in the score than its small coefficient suggests; reliable CAP acquisition matters.
- AST enters as a reciprocal, so the score is most sensitive to AST at low values and flattens as AST rises.
- A published correction to the original paper affected only the Table 2 column labels (specificity/sensitivity for the rule-in zone); the formula itself was unchanged.
Interpreting the result
Read FAST as a triage probability with three exits. At or below 0.35 the negative predictive value is high — 0.85 in the derivation cohort and 0.94 in external validation — so at-risk NASH can be excluded and the patient managed for metabolic risk with reassessment over time. At or above 0.67 the specificity is 0.90, and the patient should move toward specialist assessment, consideration of treatment or a trial, and definitive staging where needed. Between 0.35 and 0.67 — where roughly a third of patients land — the score is uninformative and a further test is required; treating that grey zone as negative is the characteristic error. Because the rule-in positive predictive value is well below certainty, a high FAST identifies whom to investigate, not a diagnosis.
| Score | Band | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 0.35 | Rule-out zone | At-risk NASH unlikely — sensitivity 0.90; NPV 0.85 (derivation), 0.94 (validation) | Manage metabolic risk factors; reassess over time. No immediate biopsy |
| 0.35–0.67 | Indeterminate | Grey zone — around a third of patients. FAST neither excludes nor confirms at-risk NASH | Proceed to a further test (MRI-based assessment, or biopsy where it changes management) |
| ≥ 0.67 | Rule-in zone | At-risk NASH likely — specificity 0.90; PPV 0.83 (derivation) | Specialist referral; consider treatment or trial assessment and definitive staging |
What the FAST Score needs (3 inputs)
- Liver stiffness / LSM (kPa)
- Liver stiffness by vibration-controlled transient elastography (FibroScan). It enters as a natural logarithm and is the fibrosis component of the score. LSM is confounded by obesity, ascites, food intake and acute hepatitis.
- CAP (dB/m)
- The controlled attenuation parameter from the same FibroScan examination, a measure of hepatic fat. It enters as a cube (CAP³) with a very small coefficient, so the score is sensitive to CAP measurement quality and to the probe used.
- AST (U/L)
- Serum aspartate aminotransferase, entering as its reciprocal (AST⁻¹) — the activity/injury component. Any non-NASH cause of a raised AST will move the score.
What it returns
- FAST score
- A probability between 0 and 1 of at-risk (fibrotic) NASH. It is not a fibrosis stage and not a NAFLD activity score.
- Risk zone
- Rule-out (≤ 0.35), indeterminate (0.35–0.67) or rule-in (≥ 0.67). Roughly a third of patients fall in the grey zone.
How it is calculated
FAST is a logistic regression that deliberately draws one variable from each axis of at-risk NASH. Liver stiffness represents fibrosis; CAP represents steatosis; AST represents hepatocellular injury and, by proxy, inflammatory activity. Combining a fibrosis marker with two activity/fat markers lets a single score estimate the composite histological target — NASH with NAS ≥ 4 and F ≥ 2 — that neither a stiffness reading nor a blood test achieves alone. The unusual shapes of the terms (a cubed CAP, a reciprocal AST) are simply the transformations that best fitted the data in the derivation cohort; they are empirical, not mechanistic, which is why measurement quality in each component feeds directly through to the result.
Facts & figures
| Threshold | Purpose | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| ≤ 0.35 | Rule out at-risk NASH | Sensitivity 0.90; NPV 0.85–0.94 |
| 0.35–0.67 | Indeterminate | ≈ one-third of patients; further testing |
| ≥ 0.67 | Rule in at-risk NASH | Specificity 0.90; PPV 0.83 |
Target is at-risk (fibrotic) NASH: histological NASH with NAS ≥ 4 and fibrosis ≥ F2.
| Source | Cohort | Discrimination |
|---|---|---|
| Newsome 2020 (derivation) | 350, UK, biopsy-proven | AUROC 0.80 |
| Newsome 2020 (global validation) | 1,026 across 7 cohorts | AUROC 0.85 |
| Ravaioli 2023 (meta-analysis) | 12 studies, 5,835 participants | Pooled sensitivity and specificity 0.89 |
Evidence
Derivation — UK biopsy cohort
2020 · n = 350350 patients with suspected NAFLD undergoing liver biopsy with contemporaneous FibroScan (LSM and CAP) and AST. Logistic regression against biopsy-defined at-risk NASH (NASH, NAS ≥ 4, fibrosis ≥ F2) selected LSM, CAP and AST for the FAST score.
AUROC 0.80. At ≤ 0.35, sensitivity 0.90 and NPV 0.85; at ≥ 0.67, specificity 0.90 and PPV 0.83.
Global external validation
2020 · n = 1,026Seven independent international cohorts totalling 1,026 patients, applying the fixed 0.35 and 0.67 thresholds.
AUROC 0.85; negative predictive value 0.94 at the 0.35 rule-out threshold, confirming strong exclusion performance across populations.
Systematic review and meta-analysis
2023 · n = 5,835Ravaioli and colleagues pooled 12 observational studies of biopsy-proven NAFLD (5,835 participants).
Pooled sensitivity and specificity both 0.89, supporting good overall performance for non-invasive identification of fibrotic NASH.
How it compares
FAST Score vs Fibrotic NASH Index (FNI)
Same target, different inputs — both estimate at-risk NASH, but FNI needs only bloods while FAST needs a FibroScan, so FNI screens broadly and FAST confirms more accurately where elastography is available.
FNI (AST, HbA1c, HDL) is a blood-only score that can be run across a whole clinic's records; FAST adds the accuracy of liver stiffness and CAP at the cost of needing the machine. A sensible pathway runs a blood-based score such as FNI or FIB-4 first, then FAST on those who remain, reserving MRI-based tests or biopsy for the FAST grey zone.
FAST Score vs FIB-4
They answer different questions — FIB-4 estimates advanced fibrosis from bloods, FAST estimates at-risk NASH from a FibroScan plus AST — so FIB-4 triages fibrosis risk cheaply and FAST characterises the active fibrotic phenotype.
FIB-4 is the guideline first-line rule-out for advanced fibrosis and needs nothing but a blood panel. FAST targets the activity-plus-fibrosis composite and requires elastography. They are complementary steps rather than competitors: FIB-4 to decide who needs elastography, FAST to characterise those who reach it.
FAST Score vs MEFIB index
Both use elastography, but FAST relies on the widely available FibroScan while MEFIB relies on MRE and reached a higher positive predictive value head-to-head — access versus accuracy.
In a direct comparison, MEFIB (MRE plus FIB-4) identified treatment candidates with a higher positive predictive value for significant fibrosis than FAST, reflecting MRE's superior accuracy. FAST's advantage is deployability: FibroScan is far more available and cheaper than MR elastography, so FAST is the more practical of the two where MRI capacity is limited.
Pearls & pitfalls
- FAST estimates at-risk NASH, a combination of activity and fibrosis — it is not a fibrosis stage and answers a different question from FIB-4 or a stiffness reading alone.
- CAP enters cubed, so the score is sensitive to CAP measurement quality and to the probe (M vs XL); an unreliable CAP undermines the result.
- LSM is confounded by obesity, ascites, recent food and acute hepatitis; a spuriously high stiffness inflates the score.
- AST enters as a reciprocal, so the score responds sharply to AST at low values — small AST differences matter more there than at high values.
- Roughly a third of patients fall in the 0.35–0.67 grey zone, where the score is uninformative; do not read that as negative.
- The rule-in positive predictive value is 0.83, not certainty — a high FAST is a trigger for assessment, not a diagnosis.
- It requires a FibroScan with CAP, so it cannot be run from bloods alone the way FIB-4 or FNI can.
Critical actions
- Use a technically adequate FibroScan — reliable LSM and CAP with an appropriate probe — before trusting the score.
- Act on the grey zone with a further test rather than filing an indeterminate result as normal.
- At rule-in, refer for specialist assessment and consider treatment or trial eligibility and definitive staging.
- Check that a raised AST has a plausible hepatic explanation, since AST is one of the three inputs.
- Treat the metabolic drivers at every score level; a low FAST does not make obesity or diabetes benign.
- Record LSM, CAP and AST alongside the score so the result can be re-checked and reproduced.
Why this score exists
FAST was designed to answer a question FibroScan alone could not: not 'how stiff is the liver' but 'does this person have the active, fibrotic disease that treatment targets'. Its authors combined the two FibroScan outputs with AST precisely because at-risk NASH is a composite of steatosis, activity and fibrosis, and no single reading captures all three. They also fixed the two thresholds — a low one for exclusion and a high one for confirmation — accepting a wide indeterminate band in between rather than forcing a binary call, which reflects an honest view that a same-visit score should be trusted at its extremes and deferred to further testing in the middle.
About the creator
First author, 2020 derivation study
Led the multicentre derivation combining liver stiffness, controlled attenuation parameter and AST to identify fibrotic steatohepatitis.
Senior author
Also first author of the much simpler BARD score, twelve years earlier.
Limitations
- It requires a FibroScan with a reliable CAP, so it cannot be computed from blood tests alone and is unsuitable as a population-wide screen.
- Liver stiffness is confounded by obesity, ascites, food intake and acute hepatitis, any of which can distort the score.
- CAP enters cubed and is the least standardised of the inputs, making the score sensitive to CAP measurement quality and probe choice.
- Around a third of patients fall in the indeterminate grey zone, where the score provides no answer.
- The rule-in positive predictive value is 0.83, so a high score identifies whom to investigate rather than establishing a diagnosis.
- It was derived and validated in metabolic (MASLD/NAFLD) liver disease and should not be transferred to viral or alcohol-related disease without dedicated evidence.
If you are the patient
The FAST score is a way of combining a liver scan with a blood test to see whether fatty liver disease has become the more serious, active and scarring type that may need treatment. It uses two numbers from a FibroScan — one for how stiff the liver is (a sign of scarring) and one for how much fat is in it — together with a liver enzyme called AST from a blood test. Added together in a formula, these give a score between 0 and 1. A low score (0.35 or under) means the serious form is unlikely, and the focus stays on healthy-lifestyle changes and managing weight, blood sugar and cholesterol. A high score (0.67 or above) means it is likely, and you would usually see a liver specialist and may need more tests. A score in between is common and means the test could not tell, so another test is needed — not bad news in itself, just a sign that more information is required. The scan needs to be done well for the number to be reliable, which is why it is usually done in a specialist clinic.
Frequently asked questions
What is the FAST score?#
The FAST (FibroScan-AST) score is a non-invasive test that combines liver stiffness (LSM) and the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) from a FibroScan with serum AST to estimate the probability of at-risk (fibrotic) NASH — steatohepatitis with a NAFLD activity score of at least 4 and fibrosis of at least F2. It is used to identify patients with the active, fibrotic form of metabolic fatty liver disease.
What FAST score is reassuring?#
A FAST score at or below 0.35 is the rule-out result: at-risk NASH is unlikely, with a negative predictive value of 0.85 in the derivation cohort and 0.94 in external validation. There is no single 'normal' value — the score is a probability, and the reassuring band is defined by that 0.35 threshold.
What does a FAST score above 0.67 mean?#
It falls in the rule-in zone, where specificity is 0.90 — at-risk NASH is likely and specialist assessment, treatment or trial consideration, and definitive staging are warranted. It is not a diagnosis: the positive predictive value at this threshold was 0.83, so it identifies whom to investigate rather than confirming the disease outright.
How is FAST different from FIB-4?#
FIB-4 estimates advanced fibrosis (stage F3–F4) from blood values alone, whereas FAST estimates at-risk NASH — a combination of disease activity and fibrosis — and needs a FibroScan as well as AST. They answer different questions, so a patient can be low-risk on one and not the other. FIB-4 is the cheap first-line fibrosis rule-out; FAST characterises the active fibrotic phenotype.
Why does the FAST calculator need a FibroScan?#
Two of its three inputs — liver stiffness and CAP — come from a vibration-controlled transient elastography (FibroScan) examination and cannot be obtained from blood tests. That is what lets FAST capture fibrosis and fat directly, but it also means the score can only be calculated when a FibroScan has been performed, unlike blood-only scores such as FIB-4 or the Fibrotic NASH Index.
Does FAST replace a liver biopsy?#
It reduces the need for one. FAST excludes at-risk NASH cheaply at the low threshold and flags likely cases at the high threshold, so many patients avoid biopsy. Those in the 0.35–0.67 grey zone, and some at rule-in, still need further assessment — MRI-based testing or biopsy — to confirm the phenotype and stage fibrosis.
References
Validation
- Ravaioli F, Dajti E, Mantovani A, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of FibroScan-AST (FAST) score for the non-invasive identification of patients with fibrotic non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Gut. 2023;72(7):1399-1409.
- Tamaki N, Imajo K, Sharpton S, et al. Magnetic resonance elastography plus Fibrosis-4 versus FibroScan-aspartate aminotransferase in detection of candidates for pharmacological treatment of NASH-related fibrosis. Hepatology. 2022;75(3):661-672.
Clinical practice guidelines
- Berzigotti A, Tsochatzis E, Boursier J, et al. EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines on non-invasive tests for evaluation of liver disease severity and prognosis – 2021 update. J Hepatol. 2021;75(3):659-689.
- EASL-EASD-EASO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the management of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). J Hepatol. 2024;81(3):492-542.
- Rinella ME, Neuschwander-Tetri BA, Siddiqui MS, et al. AASLD Practice Guidance on the clinical assessment and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology. 2023;77(5):1797-1835.
Further reading
- Kleiner DE, Brunt EM, Van Natta M, et al. Design and validation of a histological scoring system for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAS). Hepatology. 2005;41(6):1313-1321.
- Tavaglione F, De Vincentis A, Jamialahmadi O, et al. Development and Validation of a Score for Fibrotic Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (FNI). Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023;21(6):1523-1532.e1.