EGD & Liver Biopsy?

[carsoneg 0]

So today I got the call for my ultrasound results saying that YES my gallbladder will be coming out during my surgery, and in addition they would be doing a biopsy on my liver during my surgery....

Anyone experienced this?

Also I have seen a lot of people talk about having to have an EGD done prior to surgery, and I asked if I would have to have one and they said no... Just curious on what the stigma would be for having or not having one...

I am about 6 weeks pre-surgery and really trying to get all my questions answered. Thanks for the help!

[kkami12 52]

They had of either seen a mass,complex cyst or your liver may be very fatty so they may want to test for cirrhosis. ( im an ultrasound tech) i would ask your dr to clarify

[carsoneg 0]

Thank you kkami12!

They didn't say anything about a mass or cyst, just that I would need a biopsy done and that it could possibly be from fatty cells...

I guess the real question is, is this common before VSG?

[RickM 1,752]

Surgeons vary widely on what they do pre-op. Based on what I see on these various forums, I would guess that maybe 20% of the practices do EGDs pre-op (doesn't seem like it's anywhere near 50%) and maybe a similar number do pre-op ultrasounds to look at the liver and gallbladder. Some may do a specific H. Pylori test. Some do pre-op diets of some description while others don't. My doc didn't do any specific GI imaging ahead of time, but would have removed the gallbladder had he felt any stones when he was in there. Likewise, I expect that he would have taken some liver samples for biopsy had he seen anything of concern (and he gets very concerned about such things as liver transplants is other major practice.) I guess that you can say that some docs don't want to be surprised when they go inside of you and want to have as much planned out as possible, while others are perfectly comfortable working more on the fly, as it were. There may also be scheduling concerns - if a doc packs his surgical schedule, then he would want to know ahead of time if he needs to schedule more time for a particular patient; others may keep a more relaxed schedule that can accommodate the typical added tasks.