Keywords:
Liver, CT, Ultrasound, Biopsy, Quality assurance
DOI:
10.26044/ranzcr2023/C-112
Results
Liver biopsies were diagnostic in 89% of cases, with the number of portal tracts ranging from 10 to 57 (with an average of 25). Non diagnostic cases (2/19) were querying primary sclerosing cholangitis, which due to its patchy nature, is difficult to diagnose on liver biopsy [5]. The total biopsy length for each sample ranged from 15 to 111mm, with an average of 59mm. The mean biopsy length required to obtain 11 portal tracts +/- the standard deviation was 26.4mm +/- 9.6mm. Plotting a linear correlation for the data (Figure 1) showed that for every 1mm increase in biopsy sample length, the number of portal tracts increased by 0.3974. Therefore, the biopsy length required to obtain 11 portal tracts was 27.7mm. For three standard deviations, a biopsy length of 56.4mm was required for an adequate sample.