title: The practice of percutaneous liver biopsy in a gastrohepatology day hospital: a retrospective study on 835 biopsies.
abstract: The evolving role of liver biopsy has induced the formulation of several guidelines on its appropriateness. However, the great divergence among hepatologists is still unresolved. We report the 4-year activity of a day hospital of gastrohepatology in northern Italy. Between January 2001 and July 2004, 835 subjects (mean age, 43+/-12 years) underwent this procedure in our facility. Etiologically, in 465 (56%) and 157 (19%) patients, chronic hepatitis C and nonspecific elevated liver biochemical tests were the first and second indications, followed by chronic hepatitis B and suspected nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. On a purpose basis, procedures requested for staging (n = 578) and/or for diagnosis (n = 217) were identified. Among the former, 80% had the scope of staging chronic hepatitis C, and in 15% of these unsuspected superimposed cirrhosis was detected. Among diagnostic procedures, nonspecific raised liver enzyme level ranked first. Twenty-two percent of patients reported unwanted effects following the procedure. In conclusion, these data accord with indications expressed by international guidelines. The impact of liver biopsy on therapeutic decision-making needs to be studied further.
authors: Department of Gastro-Hepatology and Clinical Nutrition, San Giovanni Battista (Molinette) Hospital, Torino, 10126, Italy. actis_g@libero.it
authors: Giovanni Clemente
authors: GC
authors: Actis
authors: Alda
authors: A
authors: Olivero
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Lagget
authors: Rinaldo
authors: R
authors: Pellicano
authors: Antonina
authors: A
authors: Smedile
authors: Mario
authors: M
authors: Rizzetto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D005260:Female; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index