NATIONWIDE - As a nurse, Claudette Clark is comfortable with doctors' offices, but this visit is for her to keep tabs on a Hepatitis C infection.

"It could have been from a needle stick, I worked in the OR for 30 years. It could be from a splash, they're not really sure," Clark said.

Hepatitis causes inflammation in the liver, and to track that, patients have biopsies.

Dr. Bruce Bacon explains how a biopsy works.

"The reason we do a biopsy is to stage the amount of scar tissue to determine how much damage there is to the liver," Bacon said.

Now a new device is in clinical trial. It uses ultrasound, and may offer a non-invasive way to check the lives.

"With fibroscan, we can measure the amount of scar tissue, or the amount of damage to the liver, without any needles," Bacon said.

The fibroscan emits a vibration that's tracked by the machine. The faster the wave travels, the harder and more scarred the tissue.

"So what this device measures is the amount of stiffness of the liver, sort of the elasticity or sponginess of the liver," Bacon said.

Doctor Bacon says this information guides a patient's treatment.

"So we need to know who is progressing and who is not, because we make decisions about who should or shouldn't be treated, and how vigorously they should be treated," Bacon said.

The device is currently being studied with Hepatitis B and C patients. However, Doctor Bacon says if the device is proved to be as accurate as a liver biopsy, it could also be used to check the live condition of patients with other liver diseases.

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