[Endoscopic ultrasound-guided liver biopsy: current status and prospects].

Abstract

Liver biopsy is an important means of clinical diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases, but it is not easily accepted by patients because of its invasiveness. The most commonly employed liver biopsy approaches are percutaneous or transjugular. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided liver biopsy (EUS-LB), a newly emerging transjugular technique, has been widely studied and applied in recent years, but its application in China is less common. The EUS-LB has the advantages of high safety and comfort, simultaneous sampling of both liver lobes, and adequate sampling volume; however, it also has the disadvantages of high requirements for hardware, operators, and cost. This article reviews the clinical application of EUS-LB in accordance with pertinent research findings from recent years and discusses its advantages, disadvantages, and implementation feasibility.