Improved tissue sections for medical liver biopsies: a comparison of 16 vs 18 g biopsy needles using digital pathology.
J Clin Pathol
; 67(5): 415-9, 2014 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24357440
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Most medical liver biopsies in the UK are now taken in radiology departments using 18 g biopsy needles. Subjectively, the resulting biopsies are narrow and fragile.AIM:
To compare the quality of liver biopsy tissue sections obtained from 16 and 18 g biopsy needles.METHOD:
Fifty consecutive routine medical liver biopsies obtained with 16 and 18 g needles, processed identically in the same laboratory, were measured using digital pathology software. We recorded their fragmentation, length, width, area and number of portal tracts.RESULTS:
Biopsies obtained with 16 g needles more often resulted in an intact core in tissue sections than those with 18 g needles (71% vs 24%, p<0.001) and were significantly wider (average width of tissue 0.88 vs 0.53 mm, p<0.001). The average total area of tissue per pass was 11.38 mm(2) compared with 8.34 mm(2) (p<0.001). The number of complete portal tracts per length of biopsy was very variable, but double for 16 vs 18 g biopsies. Routinely taking two passes with the 18 g needle compensated for the reduced area, but the resulting liver in tissue sections was fragmented and distorted.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results support the routine use of 16 g rather than 18 g biopsy needles for routine ultrasound-guided medical liver biopsies. A second pass should be considered if the first biopsy core is short, especially for investigation of disease stage.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Biopsy, Large-Core Needle
/
Image-Guided Biopsy
/
Liver
/
Liver Diseases
/
Needles
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Clin Pathol
Year:
2014
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom