Review article: the evolving role of liver biopsy

Liver biopsy is traditionally the 'gold standard' for the evaluation of liver diseases. There are several situations in which its role is being challenged. In hepatitis C, liver biopsy helps assess prognosis and treatment candidacy. An important exception is genotype 2 or 3 because treatment is more likely to succeed and therapy is relatively short in duration. For hepatitis B, liver biopsy gives some prognostic information, but serologic tests and hepatic biochemical tests are the primary determinants of treatment candidacy. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can be accurately diagnosed without a liver biopsy and, furthermore, there are no specific therapies available. The role of liver biopsy to assess methotrexate-associated hepatotoxicity remains controversial. Finally, patients with focal liver lesions usually do not require biopsy and, in the case of hepatocellular carcinoma, biopsy carries a risk of needle-track seeding. In short, the need for liver biopsy depends on the specific situation and should be performed when there is sufficient uncertainty about diagnosis, severity of disease, prognosis, and treatment decisions.