Published online Jan 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i2.305
Revised: June 28, 2004
Accepted: July 17, 2004
Published online: January 14, 2005
Outpatient percutaneous liver biopsy is a common practice in the differential diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver disease. The major complication and mortality rate were about 2-4% and 0.01-0.33% respectively. Arterio-portal fistula as a complication of percutaneous liver biopsy was infrequently seen and normally asymptomatic. Hemobilia, which accounted for about 3% of overall major percutaneous liver biopsy complications, resulted rarely from arterio-portal fistula We report a hemobilia case of 68 years old woman who was admitted for abdominal pain after liver biopsy. The initial ultrasonography revealed a gallbladder polypoid tumor and common bile duct (CBD) dilatation. Blood clot was extracted as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) showed hemobilia. The patient was shortly readmitted because of recurrence of symptoms. A celiac angiography showed an intrahepatic arterio-portal fistula. After superselective embolization of the feeding artery, the patient was discharged uneventfully. Most cases of hemobilia caused by percutaneous liver biopsy resolved spontaneously. Selective angiography embolization or surgical intervention is reserved for patients who failed to respond to conservative treatment.