Major complications of pediatric percutaneous liver biopsy do not differ among physicians with different degrees of training

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to compare safety of pediatric percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB) performed by fellows or staff physicians. METHODS: Outcomes of 212 PLB completed by first-year pediatric gastroenterology fellows or by staff physicians over 8 years were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: Approximately 81.5% of the biopsies were completed by trainees. No significant differences were found between groups (fellows vs staff) regarding number of punctures (median of 1.7 for both), nonrepresentative biopsies (4.2% vs 2.6%), and hemoglobin drop (median of 0.7 vs 0.5 g/L). DISCUSSION: Complications of pediatric PLB are uncommon and did not differ among physicians with different training levels.