Incidence of ultrasound-detected intrahepatic hematomas due to Tru-cut needle liver biopsy

Abstract

This is a prospective study in which 120 patients with diffuse liver disease undergoing liver biopsy were followed by serial ultrasounds to determine the incidence of postbiopsy intrahepatic hematoma formation. Forty-five of the patients had a blind biopsy, while the remaining 75 patients had a biopsy performed during laparoscopy. In both groups a 2.0-mm Tru-cut needle was employed. The overall incidence of postbiopsy hematoma formation was 18.3%, with approximately the same results occurring in blind biopsy patients (20%) and laparoscopy-guided biopsy patients (17%). Only two patients had significant pain associated with the hematoma formation (one from each group), one of whom had evidence of intraperitoneal bleed and rebleed. Our results suggest that postbiopsy asymptomatic hematomas occur more frequently than had been generally thought and that laparoscopy-guided biopsy is not safer than blind biopsy.