A European team, led by Professor William Rosenberg from Southampton University, have announced a new blood test to spot liver disease. Normally doctors need to perform invasive surgery to take a sample of liver tissue.
The team says the simple blood test would mean that most surgeries would no longer be necessary. 1,000 patients who had had a liver biopsy also had the blood test. The test was 95% accurate in detecting the liver disease.
Professor Humphrey Hodgson, chairman of the British Association for the Study of the Liver, said the tests would "significantly reduce the necessity of liver biopsies". The biopsies are complicated and have the potential for complications.
