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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2015; 21(42): 12141-12149
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.12141
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.12141
Is liver biopsy still needed in children with chronic viral hepatitis?
Maria Pokorska-Śpiewak, Barbara Kowalik-Mikołajewska, Małgorzata Aniszewska, Magdalena Pluta, Magdalena Marczyńska, Department of Children’s Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Warsaw, 01-201 Warsaw, Poland
Maria Pokorska-Śpiewak, Barbara Kowalik-Mikołajewska, Małgorzata Aniszewska, Magdalena Pluta, Magdalena Marczyńska, Warsaw Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 01-201 Warsaw, Poland
Author contributions: Pokorska-Śpiewak M designed the research, conducted the review of existing literature, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript; all the authors revised the paper, and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Maria Pokorska-Śpiewak, MD, PhD, Department of Children’s Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Wolska 37, 01-201 Warsaw, Poland. mpspiewak@gmail.com
Telephone: +48-22-3355250 Fax: +48-22-3355253
Received: July 20, 2015
Peer-review started: July 30, 2015
First decision: September 11, 2015
Revised: September 23, 2015
Accepted: September 30, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Peer-review started: July 30, 2015
First decision: September 11, 2015
Revised: September 23, 2015
Accepted: September 30, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: The role of liver biopsy in pediatric patients with chronic viral hepatitis was questioned recently due to the development of non-invasive alternative methods (novel imaging studies and combinations of biomarkers) used for the assessment of the severity of liver fibrosis. However, none of these methods has been validated in children so far, and therefore liver biopsy remains the gold standard for the evaluation of liver disease progression in children with chronic viral hepatitis. In addition, it is a crucial tool for the management and for therapeutic decisions.