The best way to establish what type of liver disease is present and the extent of the disease, is a biopsy.  Your child will have a general anaesthetic (be completely asleep) for the procedure.  The biopsy is usually performed by inserting a needle into the liver through the skin and taking a small sample of liver tissue. Examination of the sample under the microscope can demonstrate what damage or what type of disease is present. Before the doctor does this procedure, they will check whether or not your child is at increased risk of bleeding by doing blood tests. Following the procedure, children are monitored for a minimum of 6 hours in hospital and may require an overnight admission.