Is needle biopsy of the liver necessary in staging laparotomy

The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine the necessity of nee dle biopsy in staging laparotomy. Between 1988 and 1998, 31 patients diagno sed with Hodgkin's disease underwent staging laparotomy. All patients had l ymph node sampling from perihilar, coeliac, periaortic and iliac regions, s plenectomy, wedge biopsy of the liver as well as tru-cut needle biopsies fr om both liver lobes. Two patients (6.5%) had hepatic involvement of the liv er detected by both wedge and needle biopsies. In the remaining patients, a ll biopsies of the liver obtained by either method were negative. These fin dings strongly suggest that wedge biopsy of the liver provides sufficient i nformation for the diagnosis and there is no need for tru-cut biopsy which has its own complications.