A liver biopsy is a procedure used to examine pieces of the liver in a laboratory setting. By extracting a small piece of a dog’s liver, laboratory testing can help determine whether a dog has any liver disease, enlargement, obstruction or other abnormalities of the liver. A liver biopsy is an extremely powerful tool in determining illnesses in a dog that could cause powerful effects on his quality of life.
Purpose of Liver Biopsy
The main reason that a liver biopsy is performed on a dog is to assist in making a diagnosis related to a condition of the liver. However, at times, a liver biopsy may be conducted primarily to determine whether or not a current treatment regimen is effective. Liver biopsies can help determine conditions such as hepatitis, autoimmune liver disease, liver cancer, liver obstruction and enlargement of the liver.
Depending on the symptoms that a dog is experiencing, a veterinarian may have reason to suspect that the liver is either the primary target of disease or that some other dysfunction in the body is affecting the normal functions of the liver. By performing a liver biopsy, the condition of the dog can be determined and treatment can be used as needed.
Methods of Biopsy
There are a few different ways that a liver biopsy in a dog can be performed. The first way is to insert a tiny needle into the liver cavity and extract a portion of liver tissue. This is always done under local anesthesia so that the dog does experience any pain. The only drawback to this liver biopsy method is that some dogs will not sit for the procedure. In those cases, general anesthesia may be induced and a surgical liver biopsy performed.
A surgical liver biopsy is done in much the same manner, by inserting a needle into the liver cavity for excision of liver tissue, except that general anesthesia is used. This specific method is commonly done with ultrasound assistance to determine the prime location for biopsy. One of the largest benefits to surgically biopsying the liver is that it is easier to monitor the dog after the procedure has been finished. Because a dog will usually need to be monitored for a few hours after biopsy, general anesthesia allows the dog to be kept dog calm and sedated while all of the necessary postoperative measures are taken.
Precautions
Liver biopsies tend to cause bleeding at the liver site. For that reason, most veterinarians will conduct routine blood testing prior to the procedure to ensure that the clotting factors in the dog’s blood are within normal limits. While it is not uncommon for there to be internal bleeding immediately after the procedure, the bleeding can sometimes be prolonged for many hours after biopsy, so it is important to perform preoperative blood testing, as well as to monitor the dog in the aftermath.