Media information For immediate release

Date: 10 February 2009

Painfree Alternative To Liver Biopsies

Waikato Hospital is the first hospital in New Zealand to install an ultrasound technique which identifies potentially fatal liver disease and alleviates the need for painful biopsies.

The Fibroscan provides a painless, non-invasive alternative to a needle biopsy by measuring the liver with ultrasound waves and evaluating progression of the disease.

Waikato Hospital's Gastroenterology Unit took possession of the $200,000 machine last week and is already using it on patients. It is in wide use overseas but never before in New Zealand.

Clinical director of gastroenterology Dr Frank Weilert said the procedure will reduce the number of liver biopsies by 50-60 per cent at Waikato Hospital.

"Obtaining liver tissue by a needle biopsy can be a very painful procedure resulting in bleeding, perforation of other organs, even hospital admission and rarely death.

"This has previously been the only option to assess the liver but the Fibroscan allows us to measure liver stiffness without invasive action.

"It will also allow us to map progress of liver disease better," Dr Weilert said.

Dr Weilert said the new procedure is a more suitable option for a number of people including the patients with bleeding disorders, elderly and young children.

"We're expecting to carry out at least 150 procedures in the next 12 months but anticipate more because the number of suitable candidates for a Fibroscan is much greater than for a needle biopsy," he said.

The Fibroscan works through a probe held against the patients' abdomen. It generates a pulse and sends waves through the liver. The converted waves measure how stiff the liver is.

"More stiffeness means more scar tissue so liver disease is present," Dr Weilert explained.

"Basically, instead of extracting a tissue sample with a needle biopsy and then looking at it under a microscope, we can now use the Fibroscan to measure the stiffness inside the liver through the ultrasound waves."

The Fibroscan procedure takes about 15 minutes.

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