Case Study: Liver Biopsy
I recently saw a 65 year old man who had a very unfortunate experience after having a liver biopsy. He had consulted a liver specialist because he had raised liver enzymes in a blood test for liver function. He had the liver biopsy done in a private hospital under radio-imaging and it was noticed that he was bleeding from the liver in the area of the biopsy, so he was admitted to this private hospital overnight for observation.
Well, by the next morning he had lost so much blood he went into hypo-volemic shock (extremely low blood pressure causing lack of blood flow to vital organs). This shock caused his kidneys to fail and he was admitted to another hospital in the intensive care ward where he had dialysis.
Whilst he was recovering and became well enough to walk, he had a fall in the hospital and fell heavily onto his right ear. This caused damage to the 5th and 7th cranial nerves (trigeminal and facial nerves). He has permanent nerve damage and nerve pain from this accident and has to take strong pain killers.
This patient now has permanent kidney failure and was doing peritoneal dialysis at home and developed infections in the abdominal cavity. He has been extremely fatigued and had to sell his successful business and is unable to work. His kidneys will never recover. His liver problem is now the least of his worries. Before his liver biopsy his kidney function was completely normal.
By the way, his liver biopsy showed amyloidosis of the liver. This is a condition where abnormal proteins infiltrate the liver. Conventional medical treatments do not generally work well and are not curative.
Many patients have a liver biopsy with no complications, but when a liver biopsy goes wrong, it can be extremely serious.
When considering a liver biopsy, it is wise to get a second opinion.
Ask the doctor the following –
- Will the results of my biopsy enable me to find a cure for my problem?
- Are there other techniques that are not invasive and are free of risk to diagnose the cause of my liver problem?
- Can I have a Fibroscan ultrasound test to check for cirrhosis instead of putting myself through a liver biopsy?
- Are blood tests accurate enough to diagnose the cause of my liver problem?
- Can I wait a while and try nutritional medicine to see if my liver function tests improve?
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future and I will certainly print it out and ask those questions. Pat Hegarty