Purpose:To retrospectively assess factors affecting the success of ultrasonographically (US)-guided core liver biopsy of focal lesions on the basis of experience when both cytologic and pathologic examination results were available.
Materials and Methods:This HIPAA-compliant retrospective study was granted an exemption from the institutional review board.
Results:Biopsy specimens were diagnostic in 205 cases (98.6%) and were nondiagnostic in three cases (1.4%); 85.9% of the lesions were malignant. There was a single lesion in 89 patients (42.8%), and there were multiple lesions in 119 patients (57.2%). One biopsy pass was sufficient in 58 patients (27.9%); two passes were sufficient in 75 patients (36.1%); and three, four, five, and six passes were sufficient in 51 (24.5%), 17 (8.2%), five (2.4%), and two (1.0%) patients, respectively. There was no relationship between lesion size or location and the number of passes, according to the Pearson correlation and 2 test (P ϭ .16 and P ϭ .22, respectively). On average, 1.9 passes were required for metastatic lesions, versus 2.8 for nonmetastatic lesions (P Ͻ .001, Wilcoxon test). Cytologic and histopathologic findings were discordant in 25 cases (12.0%).
Conclusion:The size and location of liver lesions sampled for biopsy do not influence the number of passes needed, while metastatic lesions require fewer passes. Without the on-site cytologic examination service, a predetermined number of three passes would be diagnostic in almost 90% of all cases.