Interventional Radiology - Technical Note

Iatrogenic arterio-biliary fistula and peripheral hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm after transjugular liver biopsy: complication management using a microvascular plug

10.5152/dir.2022.20994

  • Felix Frenzel
  • Peter Fries
  • Arno Buecker
  • Alexander Massmann

Received Date: 12.12.2020 Accepted Date: 25.02.2021 Diagn Interv Radiol 2022;28(4):383-386

This study aimed to report on complication management in a 58-year-old woman referred for transjugular biopsy for the evaluation of unknown liver disease. After an initial uneventful biopsy procedure, the patient complained of severe upper abdominal pain. Laboratory tests revealed increasing liver enzymes. Imaging studies depicted an iatrogenic pseudoaneurysm associated with an arterio-biliary fistula originating from the right peripheral hepatic artery. Angiography and percutaneous transarterial superselective embolotherapy was performed by means of a microcatheter and microvascular plug. Precise device positioning allowed for successful closure of the bleeding site without compromising the hepatic vasculature.