April 12, 2006 - Liver biopsy is considered a gold standard for staging chronic liver disease, but can sometimes be fool’s gold. Liver disease may be missed because the biopsy relies on needle placement, said K. Rajender Reddy, M.D., director of Hepatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, at the American College of Physicians meeting. For example, in one series cirrhosis was missed in up to 20% of biopsies and the grade of inflammation or state of fibrosis was consistently underscored. As a result, “a patient may be told at one point that they have mild disease, only to find out a year later that the liver is cirrhotic,” he added. Because liver biopsy is an invasive procedure, physicians and patients are often reluctant to select biopsy.
www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/Hepatitis/tb/3063

BInformed, Summer 2006.