Liver biopsy provides valuable histopathologic information for the diagnosis of liver diseases, according to a recent study published by Khalifa and Rockey in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. Despite its accuracy, investigators stressed that liver biopsy can cause bleeding, pain, and death in rare instances—leading some hepatologists to avoid the diagnostic procedure. In the study, investigators assessed the correlation between prebiopsy clinical diagnoses with hepatic histopathology. They identified 80 patients undergoing liver biopsy and asked their respective hepatologists to complete a questionnaire regarding the most likely clinical diagnosis and liver disease stage prior to the procedure. Alcoholic liver disease (n = 19), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 18), and autoimmune hepatitis (n = 18) were among the most common prebiopsy clinical diagnoses. The investigators discovered that 64% (n = 51) of the hepatologists’ prebiopsy diagnoses matched the histologic diagnoses gleaned from biopsy; however, only 33% (n = 6/18) of patients with autoimmune hepatitis were correctly diagnosed prior to biopsy. The investigators also noted that 8% (n = 6) of patients thought to have liver disease in prebiopsy diagnoses had normal histology. Further, they found that 64% (n = 54) of the prebiopsy predictions matched the histologic findings for fibrosis staging and that 9% (n = 7) of patients initially suspected to have no fibrosis or early-stage fibrosis had cirrhosis. In a companion press release on the findings from the Medical University of South Carolina, the study authors concluded: “Our study shows that biopsy continues to be valuable as part of our diagnostic arsenal.”