Changing Trends in Liver Biopsy Practices: A Single-Center Analysis

IntroductionTo assess the trends for liver biopsy (LB) indications, technique, and histopathologic diagnosis, we retrospectively evaluated liver biopsies in two one-year periods, separated by a decade.MethodsA pathology database query was performed for all parenchymal LB in patients over 18 years (11/2017 to 10/2018) and compared to those performed over a one-year period, a decade ago. We identified 427 parenchymal liver biopsies in the recent group and 166 in the decade-old group.ResultsElevated liver enzymes are the most common indication for LB. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common diagnosis compared to 10 years ago, when it was viral hepatitis. Routes of LB were significantly different between the two groups, endoscopic ultrasound-guided liver biopsy (EUS-LB) (80.3% vs 0; p