[Needle biopsy in childhood and infancy hepatic disease (author's transl)]

Experiences are reported gained from 764 liver biopsies in children ad infants. Indications and contraindications are the same as in adults. The normal liver of infants and young children exhibits some particular differences as compared to the adult liver. Formation of giant cells is a striking pathological finding in various early childhood liver diseases. Needle biopsy is imperative in children with longstanding jaundice when it has to be decided, if surgery is to be done or not. Histology yielded the decisive diagnostic information in 80% of the cases in our hands. Needle biopsy may yield important or decisive information in the other liver diseases of childhood as well.