A novel cryoprobe for minimal invase liver biopsies. First experimental results of a new device

Background: Minimally invasive laparoscopy allows for diagnosis and staging of cancer and liver cirrhosis with targeted biopsies. This study evaluates a novel cryoprobe for liver biopsy in comparison with true-cut biopsy. Methods: This prospective blinded animal study was designed to compare a novel flexible cryoprobe (18G, Erbe, Tübingen, Germany) for liver biopsies with a standard, rigid true-cut biopsy (18G) probe in live anaesthetized pigs. All biopsies were performed under laparotomy to assess bleeding times of each technique. For each group 12 biopsies were obtained. All specimens were assessed by a pathol…