title: Complications of percutaneous renal biopsy: a review of 37 years' experience.
abstract: Over a period of 37 years we performed renal biopsies 1812 times in 1638 subjects. Tissue adequate for interpretation was obtained in 1593 subjects (88%). Complications occurred in 7% of the total biopsies performed, consisting of gross hematuria lasting for more than 12 hours (3%), pain lasting for more than 12 hours (4%), a palpable hematoma (1%), infection (0.2%), and death (0.2%). Complications were higher when the biopsy yielded unsatisfactory samples (9.5%), although there were no deaths. Complications were not related to age but an elevated BUN appeared to be associated with a higher rate of complications, although this was not statistically significant. Deaths appeared to occur at unpredictable intervals and in retrospect could not have been foreseen.
authors.affiliation: George Washington University Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Parrish
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000075202:Contraindications; D004219:District of Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006406:Hematoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006417:Hematuria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology*; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies