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Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Liver Biopsy in Clinical Practice
Avik Sarkar1, Peter Dellatore1, Abhishek Bhurwal1
1Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Background And Aims:
Liver biopsies are traditionally performed using percutaneous, transjugular, or surgical approaches. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided liver biopsy is a new modality to sample liver parenchyma. This technique allows sampling of both liver lobes and obviates the need for sampling error. However, there is paucity of literature demonstrating that EUS-guided liver biopsy provides adequate tissue sample for histologic analysis. This study aimed to review the experience of 2 large tertiary care centers to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of EUS-guided liver biopsy.
Methods:
All patients undergoing EUS-guided liver biopsy between March 2018 and October 2019 between 2 tertiary care centers were included in this retrospective study. The main outcomes of the study included technical success of EUS-guided liver biopsy, details of the specimen (length of the specimen, number of complete portal tracts), and adverse events of EUS-guided liver biopsy.
Results:
A total of 229 patients underwent EUS-guided liver biopsy at the 2 tertiary care centers. There was 100% technical success. Of the 229 patients, 226 patients (98.7%) had adequate tissue for histopathological evaluation with a mean total length of 3.20 cm and complete portal tracts of 20.2. Overall, 2.6% of patients had adverse events.
Conclusion:
Our study illustrates that EUS-guided liver biopsy provides adequate specimen for histologic analysis and is a safe, viable alternative to other methods of liver biopsy.
