Comparing 3 mm and 5 mm laparoscopic liver biopsy samples in dogs

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether 3 mm cup biopsy forceps (CBF) provide equivalent diagnostic samples to 5 mm CBF for histopathologic diagnosis, bacterial culture, and copper quantification. Study design: Clinical prospective study. Animals: Ten client-owned dogs, presenting for laparoscopic liver biopsy (LLB). Methods: Dogs underwent LLB, and paired samples were collected using 3 and 5 mm CBF. Portal triad and hepatic lobule counts, crush and fragmentation artifacts, copper concentration, bacterial culture results, and agreement on histopathologic diagnosis were compared. Results: Both CBF sizes allowed for easy sample collection and resulted in minimal hemorrhage. An average of 12.13 (confidence limit (CL): 9.4–14.9) and 17.84 (CL: 15.1–20.6) portal triads were obtained using a 3 and 5 mm CBF, respectively (p =.0003). A portal triad count of 11 or more was achieved in 73.3% of the 3 mm and 93.3% of the 5 mm samples. Gwets AC1 coefficient showed a high level of agreement (0.8) for overall histopathologic diagnosis (p