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The changing place of liver biopsy in clinical practice: an audit of an Australian tertiary hospital
Author(s) -
Varma P.,
Jayasekera C.,
Gibson R. N.,
Stella D. L.,
Nicoll A. J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.12503
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatology , audit , biopsy , liver biopsy , general surgery , clinical practice , retrospective cohort study , gastroenterology , intensive care medicine , family medicine , management , economics
Abstract Liver biopsy is an important tool in hepatology, with a role now generally limited to cases of diagnostic uncertainty. A retrospective audit performed at the R oyal M elbourne H ospital aimed to identify the indications for liver biopsy and its impact on management. Ten per cent (20/195) of biopsies lacked a strong clinical indication, with hepatology involvement in only 8/20. We recommend prior hepatologist assessment to minimise unnecessary biopsies.