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Previous Volume 344:495-500 February 15, 2001 Number 7 Next

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Paul Ehrlich is credited with performing the first percutaneous liver biopsy in 1883 in Germany.¹ After Menghini reported a technique for "one-second needle biopsy of the liver" in 1958, the procedure became more widely used. The average duration of the intrahepatic phase of previous liver-biopsy techniques had been 6 to 15 minutes.²

Liver biopsy is usually the most specific test to assess the nature and severity of liver diseases. In addition, it can be useful in monitoring the efficacy of various treatments. There are currently several methods available for obtaining liver tissue: percutaneous biopsy, transjugular biopsy, laparoscopic biopsy, or fine-needle . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Percutaneous Liver Biopsy

Procedures

Contraindications

Complications of Percutaneous Liver Biopsy

Transjugular Liver Biopsy

Laparoscopic Liver Biopsy

Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy

Source Information

From the Liver Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

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