In a 53-year-old woman a percutaneous liver biopsy was performed with tru-cut to study persistent hypertransaminasemia. The patient did not present extrahepatic cholestasis. Immediately after biopsy the patient had a picture of biliary peritonitis that evolved favorably with conservative medical treatment, including hemodynamic resuscitation, antibiotic therapy, analgesic treatment and monitoring by the resuscitation service. A review is made of the literature on this complication of liver biopsy and treatment is discussed.