Liver Biopsy

Today was the day of my liver biopsy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. This was our fourth trip to the hospital in the past 2 weeks (2 doctor appointments and 2 procedures). Today's procedure was done in the Interventional Radiology department which is the same place where I had my portal vein embolization (PVE) done last week so I dealt with many of the same nurses and they were all wonderful (again).

I got prepped for the procedure and wheeled into the procedure room where an ultrasound was used to get a good view of my liver including the large hemangioma in the right lobe. The biopsy tissue was taken from the left lobe of the liver in order to avoid any contact with the hemangioma. One of the nurses shaved part of my right abdomen and they "painted" this area with a green antiseptic prior to the procedure. Soon after this I received my general anesthesia and the next thing that I knew I was waking up in recovery. I have a small bandage on my right abdomen where the needle had been inserted to get the biopsy tissue. The procedure took a little under an hour and I was in the recovery room for two hours following the procedure.

It sounds like the biopsy results will be available in a few days (hopefully by the end of this week). As I was wheeled into the procedure room I spoke with the doctor who had done the PVE last week and he indicated that based on the results of today's test the next test would likely be a Hepatic Angiogram (injection of dye into the liver's artery to see the location between the artery and my hemangioma). This test would also done in the same Interventional Radiology department if the test is required.