Abstract

MARTINEZ BAQUERO, Diana Lucía  and  JARAMILLO BARBERI, Lina Eugenia. Liver Biopsy in Children Under 5 Years Experience in a Colombian Pediatric Hospital. Rev Col Gastroenterol [online]. 2015, vol.30, n.1, pp.46-52. ISSN 0120-9957.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency and distribution of liver diseases justifying liver biopsies in Colombian pediatric patients. Methodology: Liver biopsies performed at a pediatric hospital over a period of 5 years were assessed and then sorted according to age groups and diagnoses. Results: A total of 182 histopathological studies of 168 patients (14 of whom had two procedures each.) were found: 53.6% were boys, and 46.4% were girls. Young infants were the age group which had the most biopsies, and cholestasis was the most frequent reason for these biopsies. Other diseases diagnosed included inflammatory processes (30.2%), abnormalities of the biliary tract (26.4%), tumor diseases (14.9%) and metabolic/storage disorders (9.3%). The remaining percentages were for rare entities and normal biopsies. Conclusion: Liver biopsies are useful and practical for the diagnosis of pediatric liver disease when combined with clinical and laboratory data. In our study, inflammatory processes, abnormalities of the biliary tract and tumor diseases were the most frequently diagnosed categories.

Keywords : Liver biopsy; pediatric liver disease; cholestasis.

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