EXTRAHEPATIC BILIARY OBSTRUCTION: EXPERIENCE WITH NEEDLE BIOPSY OF THE LIVER

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Abstract
Needle biopsies of the liver were obtained from 28 patients with extrahepatic biliary obstruction due to common duct stone, stricture of the common duct and neoplasm. The results of liver biopsies were compared with those of a battery of hepatic tests. The examination of liver biopsy specimens proved to be much more helpful in arriving at a diagnosis of obstructive jaundice than the combined results of cephalin cholesterol floculation, thymol turbidity and serum alkaline phos-phatase detns. Moreover, a diagnostic biopsy of the liver could be obtained as early as within 1 wk. of the onset of jaundice. The early development of beginning periportal fibrosis was demonstrated by liver biopsy in some cases within a few wks. of the onset of jaundice.