ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Ultrasonographically guided adominal biopsies are a frequent daily procedure in German hospitals. There are, however, few guidelines or recommendations for these common procedures. The oive of the current study was to assess current practice with respect to ultrasonographically guided biopsy procedures in a survey of hospitals with established departments of gastroenterology or with over 500 beds. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A questionnaire addressing the preparation for, procedure during, and post-interventional monitoring following ultrasonographically guided biopsies was mailed to 349 German hospitals. The response rate was 51 % (n = 177). RESULTS: Establishment of an intravenous access is standard in 51.2 % (88/172) of the hospitals. Sedation analgesia is standard in 19.1 % (33/173) of the hospitals and is an option in a further 60.1 % (104/173). Local anesthesia is performed in 84.8 % (145/171) of the hospitals. A dedicated transducer for targeted biopsy is used in 40.6 % (81/176) of the hospitals, while 29.5 % (52/176) use a separate biopsy bracket attached to the probe. In 80.6 % (141/175) of the hospitals, a minimum platelet count of 50,000/µL is required. A minimum of 50 % is used as limit for quick in 86.5 % (147/170) of the hospitals. A value of 1 - 1.5 for the international normalized ratio (INR) is most commonly used in the hospitals. A partial thromboplastin time (PTT) between 28 and 50 sec. is used as the upper limit. Interruption of anticoagulants is handled in a very heterogeneous manner. Postinterventional monitoring following biopsy in ambulatory patients ranges from two to 24 hours. CONCLUSION: Our survey shows relevant differences in preparation, execution and postinterventional monitoring in ultrasonographically guided biopsy procedures as routinely performed in German hospitals. There seems to be a need for a guideline standardising ultrasonographically guided biopsy procedures.
