What are the chances of infection and bleeding following a liver biopsy?

Small: Infection is extremely rare after a liver biopsy. Bleeding is quite common as the liver is a highly vascular organ but significant bleeding that leads to blood transfusion or hospitalization is quite rare and now reported to be less than 1% of patients. Other rare risks include perforation of another organ such as the lungs, gallbladder, kidney, or intestines.

Low: Normally the procedure is done under strict meassures of antisepsis and cleanigness , change of bleading is extrematelly low and per se mortality is aprox. To 0.008 to 0.031 %.

Rare: Death 1/10, 000. Severe bleeding 1/500 or 0.4%. Pain 20%. Infection - rare. Puncture lung - rare. 1-3% of people getting liver biopsy require hospitalization because of complications.

Fairly low: Bleeding is the common complication of a liver biopsy. If done with aseptic technique, the risk of infection is very low.

Low: The chances of infection and bleeding are low, but not zero. Bleeding is more likely than infection and could happen as often as 2.5 percent of the time.