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We assessed the value of liver biopsy in the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin (FUO) in hospital-based patients by a retrospective analysis of all cases (24 cases) seen at the University of Michigan Medical Center over a 5-year period. Based on the findings of a liver biopsy performed in the course of the evaluation of FUO, patients were divided into two groups: a diagnostic group, in which an abnormal liver biopsy was helpful in determining the cause of the FUO, and a nondiagnostic group, which included those who had either normal biopsy results or abnormal biopsy results that did not lead to a final diagnosis. Four patients (16.7%) had diagnostic liver biopsy results (histoplasmosis in three and tuberculosis in one). Physical findings, such as hepatomegaly, and laboratory data, including routine liver chemistries, were not predictive of a diagnostic liver biopsy. Therefore, despite advances in diagnostic …