Ischemic hepatitis following liver biopsy in a patient with transplanted liver

We report a case of ischemic hepatitis following a percutaneous liver biopsy in a 51 year old female patient, who had had an orthotopic liver transplant 6 months before. The angiographic study demonstrated a marked stenosis in the hepatic artery at the anastomosis site and a small arterioportal fistula. We suggest that the percutaneous liver biopsy was partially responsible for the ischemic hepatitis, due to the development of a small arterioportal fistula in a previously damaged vascular area with hepatic artery stenosis.