Major Complications After Percutaneous Renal Biopsy at Örebro University Hospital : A retrospective observational study

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The most accurate method to diagnose many renal diseases is by performing an ultrasound guided percutaneous kidney biopsy. While being an invasive procedure it is generally considered to be safe and major complications, such as large hematomas requiring blood transfusion, are rare but occur. AIM: To investigate whether the histological diagnosis following the percutaneous renal biopsy was correlated to the potential major complications after the procedure. We also studied if there were any predictive factors for the incidence of major complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from the Swedish Renal Registry were collected for this retrospective observational study. Biopsy records from 2015 – 2019 were added, which included the patient’s clinical status, histological diagnosis and possible major complications. RESULTS: 146 subjects, 58 females and 88 males aged 18-87 were included. Major complications were experienced in 8.9% of the cases, where crescentic glomerulonephritis and thrombotic microangiopathy were the most common histological diagnoses affected. A low hemoglobin level was the only significant predictor for the outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Patients being diagnosed with crescentic glomerulonephritis or thrombotic microangiopathy seem to be at higher risk for major complications. Our data also suggest that a low level of hemoglobin before the percutaneous renal biopsy is increasing the probability.