Hook-needle biopsy of pleura, pericardium, peritoneum and synovium

A prospective audit of the use of diagnostic laparoscopy to establish the diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis

“…Peritoneal biopsy was first performed by Donohue in 1959 using Vim Silverman needle and later Abrams and Cope needles were used. 62,63 There are several other small series of peritoneal biopsy in the 60's, 70's and 80's. 57,64,65 The procedure carries a high risk of complications like bowel perforation, bleeding, and even death.…”

Invasive Procedures in the Diagnosis of Pleural Disease

“…Various techniques for percutaneous biopsy of the pleura have been available since the 1920s, 2,3 but it was not until the popularization of the Cope 4 and Abrams 5 needles in the late 1950s that routine bedside pleural biopsy [6][7][8] became available to the clinician. Although there have been recent ad-vances in the complimentary radiographic, cytologic, and histologic techniques, few procedural modifications of the closed biopsy have ensued over the past 25 years.…”

Biopsy of the peritoneum.

“…In various abdominal affections with ascites the peritoneal biopsy, as was shown by Donohoe, Shnider, and Gorman (1959) and Donohoe, Shnider, Uzer, and Matthews (1962) and Cope and Bernhardt (1963), is a very useful diagnostic procedure. Vim-Silverman, Abrams, and Cope biopsy needles were the instruments employed by these authors, but a new instrument and technique have been derived here for biopsy of the parietal peritoneum in patients with ascites, by which specimens of peritoneal tissue for histological examination can be easily and safely obtained.…”