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Comparing 3 mm and 5 mm laparoscopic liver biopsy samples in dogs
Philippe Chagnon Larose1, Brigitte A Brisson1, Robert A Foster2
1Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Objective:
To determine whether 3 mm cup biopsy forceps (CBF) provide equivalent diagnostic samples to 5 mm CBF for histopathologic diagnosis, bacterial culture, and copper quantification.
Study Design:
Clinical prospective study.
Animals:
Ten client-owned dogs, presenting for laparoscopic liver biopsy (LLB).
Methods:
Dogs underwent LLB, and paired samples were collected using 3 and 5 mm CBF. Portal triad and hepatic lobule counts, crush and fragmentation artifacts, copper concentration, bacterial culture results, and agreement on histopathologic diagnosis were compared.
Results:
Both CBF sizes allowed for easy sample collection and resulted in minimal hemorrhage. An average of 12.13 (confidence limit (CL): 9.4-14.9) and 17.84 (CL: 15.1-20.6) portal triads were obtained using a 3 and 5 mm CBF, respectively (p = .0003). A portal triad count of 11 or more was achieved in 73.3% of the 3 mm and 93.3% of the 5 mm samples. Gwets AC1 coefficient showed a high level of agreement (0.8) for overall histopathologic diagnosis (p < .0001). The 3 mm CBF crush scores were higher (median of the differences: -1; range: -1 to 1) (p = .035). There was no difference in fragmentation scores (p = .935).
Conclusion:
The 3 mm CBF yielded smaller samples in terms of size and portal triad count compared with the 5 mm CBF. However, the portal triad count was sufficient in a majority of samples and histologic agreement with the 5 mm CBF was excellent.
Clinical Significance:
In dogs, a 3 mm CBF yields adequate samples for histopathologic interpretation, copper quantification, and bacterial culture.
