title: Liver biopsy in hemophilia A.
abstract: Hepatitis is a significant complication of the treatment of hemophilia A with factor VIII concentrates. Chronic liver disease in these patients is infrequently documented in the literature. The results of percutaneous liver biopsy, under the coverage of glycine-precipitated factor VIII, in six patients with hemophilia A who had the persistence of abnormal liver-function tests for at least 6 months, are described. Three patients had chronic active hepatitis, and three had chronic persistent hepatitis. No complications were encountered as a result of the biopsy procedure. These results suggest that percutaneous liver biopsy should be considered in patients with hemophilia A with continuously abnormal liver-function tests to establish a histologic diagnosis and to guide further therapy.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006467:Hemophilia A / Q000150:complications*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged