Outpatient Percutaneous Liver Biopsy is a Low-risk Procedure and has
Steatosis as a New Indication Trend
Abstract
BACKGROUND. Histological evaluation has a crucial role in diagnosing
hepatic diseases and percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB) is widely chosen
for this purpose. We aim to describe its indications, the rate and
severity of adverse events (AEs) in an outpatient and ultrasound
(US)-guided setting over 5 years. METHODS. This observational,
single-center, and retrospective study included patients submitted to
PLB between 2015 and 2019. We collected age, gender, coagulation tests,
comorbidities, and number of needle passes. The association between the
variables and outcomes (pain, mild and serious AEs, hospital admission,
surgical treatment, and death) was evaluated using the generalized
estimating equations method. RESULTS. We analyzed 532 biopsies in 524
patients (55.3% male) aged 49y (13–74y). Almost 39% had
cardiovascular comorbidities and 18% had overweight/obesity. Hepatitis
C virus (HCV) chronic infection was the major indication for PLB (47%),
followed by autoimmune hepatitis/cholestasis (12.6%), and metabolic
dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) (12.1%). The number
of HCV-related biopsies had a remarkable reduction, while MAFLD-related
procedures have progressively raised over time. Around 54% of the
patients reported pain, which was significantly associated with the
female gender (p=0.0143). Serious AEs occurred in 11 patients (2.1%);
hospital admission was necessary in 10 cases (1.9%), but no patient
required surgical approach and there were no deaths. No significant
association was found between the occurrence of AEs and the studied
variables (clinical, laboratory, and number of needle passes).
CONCLUSION. Real-time US-guided PLB is safe to perform in an outpatient
setting and its indications have notably undergone a transition from HCV
to MAFLD over the years. New strategies to prevent biopsy-related pain
are still needed, especially for females.