Predictors of adequate percutaneous liver biopsy specimens: a single-center experience

Abstract

Background Percutaneous liver biopsy is one of the widely accepted procedures to find any disorder, infection, and disease. Understanding the correlation between biopsy factors and adequacy rate will improvize efficacy and safety of biopsy. Objectives This study was carried out to find the effect of needle size on the adequacy rate of biopsy and also to establish the association of factors such as BMI, cumulative length, and the number of cores to adequacy rate of biopsy. Materials and methods This retrospective review study was carried out at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, MNGHA, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The data were acquired on adult patients who underwent percutaneous liver biopsy for 2010–2016 time periods. The data were analyzed by using the statistical package for social sciences, version 23. Results No significant difference was observed in the adequacy rate of biopsy among samples of different needles (P=0.998). Similarly, BMI and guidance did not significantly (P=0.860 and 0.873) affect the adequacy rate. However, the number of cores (P<0.001) and cumulative length (P<0.001) had a significant effect on adequacy rate. Finally, only cumulative length (2.4 cm) was significantly correlated (P<0.05) to the adequacy rate of Percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB). Conclusion The adequacy rate significantly depends on cumulative length and the number of cores. However, further studies are required to establish a conclusive relationship between factors and adequacy rate.

Keywords

• adequacy rate
• cumulative length
• liver biopsy
• number of cores