title: Handling and interpretation of the medical renal biopsy.
abstract: Renal biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis of kidney disease; indeed, it allows for determination of the type, extent, site, and nature of renal involvement in medical diseases, and it alters the clinical diagnosis in as many as 25-50 % of cases. At the same time, it is a relatively safe procedure with life-threatening complications occurring in less than 0.1 % of biopsies. The diagnosis of renal biopsies is complex, requiring correlation of the findings in three modalities: light, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy. For that reason, appropriate division and fixation of the renal biopsy is required, and protocols for these processes are provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, USC Keck School of Medicine, 1500 San Pablo Street, NIT, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA, mnkoss@earthlink.net.
authors.forename: Michael N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Koss
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron