Evaluation of Percutaneous Liver Biopsy Complications in Patients with Chronic Viral Hepatitis

Objective: Liver biopsy is still the gold standard for the determination of liver fibrosis and necroinflammatory activity. It is an invasive method and may lead to severe complications. The aim of this study was to determine the evaluation of percutaneous liver biopsy complications in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.

Materials And Methods: 1165 patients, who were followed with the diagnosis of chronic viral hepatitis and who were applied percutaneous liver biopsy between January 2000 and February 2013 at the out-patient clinic of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, were included in the study.

Results: Of 1165 patients who underwent liver biopsy, 196 (86 male, 110 female) were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C, 969 (559 male, 410 female) were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B. The mean age was 43.3 and 55.4% were male. 11% of the patients were diagnosed with chronic renal failure and underwent haemodialysis. Minor complication rate was about 20% (severe pain required usage of analgesic drugs in 19.8%, abdominal pain in 22.6%) whereas major complication rate was 1.15% (pneumothorax in 0.17%, heamobilia in 0.08%, hematoma in 0.9%). We did not observe severe complications such as fever, abscess, anaphylaxis, bacteraemia, organ perforations, sepsis or death.

Conclusion: Despite being an invasive procedure, percutaneous liver biopsy can be considered a safe method because of the low rates of severe complications observed in our patients.