title: Assessment of donor biopsies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide an up-to-date overview about the assessment of donor biopsies and to discuss the current problems and chances of preimplantation biopsies for transplant allocation with a focus on the technical work up and the histological variables scored.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preimplantation biopsy results are the major reason for discarding procured extended donor criteria kidneys in the USA. There is neither a consensus on the work up, nor the reporting of preimplantation donor biopsies, nor the importance of the biopsy findings in the process of allocation. The best available data have been collected in the context of single vs. double kidney transplantation. A clinical risk factor score may help to define kidneys when a preimplantation biopsy is warranted. Punch biopsies using a skin punch device appear to be a reasonable alternative for surgeons fearing needle biopsies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Donor biopsies are very useful as zero-hour biopsies establishing baseline information for comparison with subsequent transplant biopsies. As none of the histological variables and scores provides perfect prediction, preimplantation biopsy results have to be interpreted in the context of all available donor and recipient information.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Helmut.Hopfer@usb.ch
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hopfer
authors.forename: Éva
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Kemény
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D019836:Preimplantation Diagnosis; D040841:Resource Allocation; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000592:standards