To evaluate the usefulness of percutaneous transluminal forceps biopsy in patients with suspicious malignant biliary obstruction. Eight consecutive patients (7 men and 1 female; mean age, 69 years old) with obstructive jaundice underwent transluminal forceps biopsy after percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage. The lesion involved the common bile duct (n=5) and hepatic hilum (n=3). For each patient, six specimens were taken from the lesion with 5.2-Fr biopsy forceps. The final diagnosis for each patient was confirmed with pathological findings at surgery, biochemistry, or additional histocytological data. All biopsies resulted in correct diagnoses of malignant or benign lesion. There are no false negative or false positive result. The accuracy of the transluminal forceps biopsy is 100%. There was no major complication related to the biopsy procedures. Percutaneous transluminal forceps biopsy is a safe procedure that is easy to perform through a transhepatic biliary drainage tract. It provides a high accuracy in the diagnosis of suspect malignant biliary obstruction.