Bloody or Well Done. How Would You Like Your Liver Biopsy, Sir?

Percutaneous procedure will be performed under standard conditions, under transabdominal ultrasound guidance. After choosing the optimum needle trajectory, the skin site will be marked, standard skin sterilization with iodine and surgical draping of the site will be performed. Local anesthesia of the site with gradual lidocaine solution infiltration of the skin and underlying planes will be performed. Under ultrasound guidance, with collaboration of the patient for the respiratory movements, one or two passages with a 16G needle will be performed (BARD Max Core 16G, Becton Dickinson, USA). Specimens will be collected in formalin and send to pathology for processing.

"EUS guided liver FNB will be performed under deep sedation with propofol under anesthesiology monitoring. A 19G gauge Franseen needle (Acquire 19G, Boston Scientific, USA) will be used with the wet suction technique. Before inserting into the operating channel, the stylet will be removed, and the needle will be primed with heparin (500UI/5ml). After liver puncture, the 20ml aspiration syringe will be attached. Three needle actuations will be performed, one or two passes in the left liver lobe. At the end of the 3rd actuation, the syringe aspiration will be stopped, the needle will be left in place in the liver parenchyma for 2 to 3 minutes. The liver needle path will be examined with Doppler ultrasound to look for possible bleeding. If present, about 25% of the needle content will be pushed in the liver path, as previously described - the blood patch technique."