Frequency and timing of renal biopsy complications.

Background: Percutaneous renal biopsy is the primary diagnostic tool for renal diseases. In this study, we evaluated renal biopsy complications and the timing of complications.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on adult patients who underwent renal biopsy. The data gathering sheet collected patient characteristics. Complications were categorized as minor and major which needed an intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and a p-value <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 215 patients (mean age: 33.1±16.4 and 54.4%: women) who underwent percutaneous renal biopsy in Shiraz Nemazi Hospital for one year. Of the 298 complications that occurred, 90.2% were minors (56.1%of them microscopic hematuria). Moreover, 2 (0.7%) patients developed major complications and received a transfusion. In addition, most of the complications (98.9%, 295 ones) developed within 8 hours post-procedure. Only hemoglobin drop was significantly higher in women (41.0% vs. 21.4%, P=0.003).

Conclusion: This study indicates that renal biopsy is a safe procedure; the results revealed that the significant post-biopsy complications were rare and occurred in the first 8 hours.