Liver Biopsy

[ranger]

Last Oct., my doc did a needle biopsy on my liver. When the procedure was over, he informed me that he cound't find my liver and that he would have to perform a surgical biopsy at a later date. Being under anastesia, I just said whatever. He never mentioned it again and ,by this time I was so sick of being poked and prodded, niether did I. I did wonder why if it was so neccesary to perform one biopsy, why did another one become unnessesary? Months went by and I decided to get a complete copy of my medical report. I was shocked, but maybe this is common. One line reads:LIVER BIOPSY,ATTEMTED PERCUTANEOUS BX, QUESTION TISSUE? A following line reads: DIAGNOSIS- PERCUTANEOUS BIOPSY TISSUE.. LUNG TISSUE IDENTIFIED. Can someone please tell me it ain't so? Susan

[Jestgar]

GET A DIFFERENT DOCTOR!

Lungs and livers aren't so close in the body that you need to damage one in order to get the other.

[Roda]

Last Oct., my doc did a needle biopsy on my liver. When the procedure was over, he informed me that he cound't find my liver and that he would have to perform a surgical biopsy at a later date. Being under anastesia, I just said whatever. He never mentioned it again and ,by this time I was so sick of being poked and prodded, niether did I. I did wonder why if it was so neccesary to perform one biopsy, why did another one become unnessesary? Months went by and I decided to get a complete copy of my medical report. I was shocked, but maybe this is common. One line reads:LIVER BIOPSY,ATTEMTED PERCUTANEOUS BX, QUESTION TISSUE? A following line reads: DIAGNOSIS- PERCUTANEOUS BIOPSY TISSUE.. LUNG TISSUE IDENTIFIED. Can someone please tell me it ain't so? Susan

I am not giving any medical advice but I am just curious, was your percutaneous bx performed by your regular doctor or by a radiologist specialized in doing these procedures? I ask because I have assisted radiologists with percutaneous bx before under computed tomography(CT). We take images of the area of intrest to biopsy and the radiologist selects the area to go in based on the preliminary images. They then take the samples and when done another set of images is taken. For lung and liver biopsies is is routine to take a chest x-ray an hour after the procedure. The reason is that you can puncture the lung. Of course if you were doing a lung bx the risk is higher, but it is a risk of a liver biopsy also. The liver lies just under the right hemidiphragm and if the area of interest is high in the liver it can be a risk. I know some biopsies can be done under ultrasound also. It just depends what they are needing to take samples of and which is the best way to visualize it (CT or US). I hope this information helps.

[ranger]

I am not giving any medical advice but I am just curious, was your percutaneous bx performed by your regular doctor or by a radiologist specialized in doing these procedures? I ask because I have assisted radiologists with percutaneous bx before under computed tomography(CT). We take images of the area of intrest to biopsy and the radiologist selects the area to go in based on the preliminary images. They then take the samples and when done another set of images is taken. For lung and liver biopsies is is routine to take a chest x-ray an hour after the procedure. The reason is that you can puncture the lung. Of course if you were doing a lung bx the risk is higher, but it is a risk of a liver biopsy also. The liver lies just under the right hemidiphragm and if the area of interest is high in the liver it can be a risk. I know some biopsies can be done under ultrasound also. It just depends what they are needing to take samples of and which is the best way to visualize it (CT or US). I hope this information helps.

Thanks for the info. Procedure done by G.I., using ultrasound. Previously both ultra sound and cat scan used. Next day,I started coughing up bloody mucous and had to go for a chest x-ray, which turned out OK, but the whole thing scared me.