title: Diagnostic yield of renal biopsies: a retrospective single center review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have examined the spectrum of diseases identified with a kidney biopsy and the complications of the procedure. However, few studies have examined the utility of the test to clarify the diagnosis and guide treatment of pediatric patients. This retrospective, single-center chart review was performed to test the hypothesis that at least 80% of native kidney biopsies provide clinically valuable information that rationally guides diagnosis and patient management.
  
  
  METHODS
  200 biopsies performed between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2008 were reviewed. A scheme composed of six categories was devised to classify the utility of each kidney biopsy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  196 complete case files were available for review. Twenty-four (12.2%) biopsies did not shed light on the diagnosis and were unhelpful in patient management - 21 biopsies (10.7%) were non-diagnostic and 3 (1.5%) failed to yield enough tissue for examination. The number of unhelpful biopsies did not cluster in any specific disease entity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide guidance to nephrologists about the total risk of a kidney biopsy, including uninformative results, when seeking informed consent for the procedure. The results suggest an appropriate balance has been reached which maximizes the use of kidney biopsies while minimizing the risk of this invasive procedure (word count: 202).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Nephrology, Schneider Children's Hospital, New Hyde Park, New York of North Shore-LIJ Health System, Long Island Campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA. bari.scheckner@gmail.com
authors.forename: Bari
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scheckner
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peyser
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rube
authors.forename: Freya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tarapore
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vento
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Valderrama
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Charney
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goilav
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Trachtman
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology*; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity