**Author details**

Anna Mania1 , Paweł Kemnitz<sup>1</sup> , Magdalena Figlerowicz<sup>1</sup> , Aldona Woźniak<sup>2</sup> and Wojciech Służewski<sup>1</sup>

1 Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland

2 Chair of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences in Pozn‐ an, Poland

### **References**


[6] Lebensztejn DM, Kaczmarski M, Sobaniec-Lotowska M, et al (2000). Blind liver biop‐ sy in children—diagnostic significance and complications in authors' own material. Med SciMonit 6:1155–1158.

**Acknowledgements**

**Abbreviations**

**Author details**

Wojciech Służewski<sup>1</sup>

Anna Mania1

an, Poland

**References**

No –NN407 012036 to A. Mania

82 Liver Biopsy – Indications, Procedures, Results

, Paweł Kemnitz<sup>1</sup>

of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland

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(ed.)Liver biopsy. Rijeka: InTech; 2011. p265-282.

This paper was supported by a grant from The Ministry of Science and Higher Education

AIH – autoimmune hepatitis, CHB – chronic hepatitis B,CHC – chronic hepatitis C, NAFLD – non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, HUO – hepatitis/hepatomegaly of unknown origin,

, Magdalena Figlerowicz<sup>1</sup>

1 Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University

2 Chair of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medical Sciences in Pozn‐

[1] Sporea I, Popescu A, Sirli R. Why, who and how should perform liver biopsy in

[2] Cholongitas E, Senzolo M, Standish RA, Marelli L, Quaglia A, Patch D, Dhillon AP & Burroughs AK. A systemic review of the quality of liver biopsy specimens. Am J

[3] El-ShabrawiMH El-Karaksy HM, Okahsa SH, Kamal NM, El-Batran G, Badr KA. Outpatient blind percutaneous liver biopsy in infants and children: is it safe? Saudi J

[4] Mania A, Kemnitz P, Mazur-Melewska K, Figlerowicz M, Służewski W. Non-inva‐ sive assessment of liver – serum markers and imaging techniques. In: Takanashi H.

[5] Potter C, Hogan MJ, Henry-Kendjorsky K, Balint J, Barnard JA. Safety of pediatric percutaneous liver biopsy performed by interventional radiologists.J PediatrGas‐

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, Aldona Woźniak<sup>2</sup>

and


**Chapter 5**

**Risks and Benefits of Liver Biopsy in Focal Liver Disease**

Even with the recent evolution of imaging techniques, and with the ever-increasing role of serum markers, direct analysis of tissue samples maintains its role in modern medicine. This is especially true for the diagnosis and assessment of the prognosis and evolution of a series of viral, tumoral and inflammatory liver diseases. Thus, liver biopsy and histological assess‐ ment of the liver parenchyma can still be called by many the "gold standard" in diagnosis and staging of associated disease. However, liver biopsy in itself implies a series of risks and inherent discomfort for the patient. With the increasing availability of other non-invasive methods routinely used in diagnosis and staging of liver-related diseases, many debate the

In the following pages, we will try and synthetize the historical evolution of liver biopsy, describe the techniques used over the years and present its current recommendations and their alternatives, with focus on the so-called "virtual liver biopsy" techniques currently

The first written documented report of a successful liver biopsy was made by Paul Ehr‐ lich in the book "On diabetes" published in 1884. He published an account of the proce‐ dure performed in 1880 in Berlin, along with graphical illustrations of the instruments and the liver samples collected. This came detailed account was based on previous theo‐ retical advantages of this technique discussed by the French physician AGM Vernois in 1844, who in turn based his assumption on successful procedures performed for punctur‐

> © 2012 Streba et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**2. Historical landmarks and recent developments in liver biopsy**

Letiția Adela Maria Streba,

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52620

**1. Introduction**

employed.

Eugen Florin Georgescu and Costin Teodor Streba

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

necessity and ethical implications of tissue sampling.
