[Changes in indications for liver biopsy]

The author tries to analyse the modification of the indication to the needle biopsy of the liver. The clinician still only rarely demands from the pathologist the verification of an acute hepatitis and the proof of an obstruction. On the other hand a differentiation of persisting and aggressive hepatitis is possible only by a morphological investigation. Nowadays the tasks of the pathologist are mainly the confirmation or the exclusion of liver lesions caused by alcohol or pharmaceutical products and chemicals, respectively, and the diagnosis of a pseudo-alcoholic hepatitis.