Diagnostic yield of renal biopsies: a retrospective single center review.
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).
Scheckner
Bari
B
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
Peyser
Alexandra
A
Rube
Jacob
J
Tarapore
Freya
F
Frank
Rachel
R
Vento
Suzanne
S
Hoffman
Cathy
C
Valderrama
Elsa
E
Charney
Douglas
D
Goilav
Beatrice
B
Trachtman
Howard
H
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