RENAL BIOPSY IN CHILDREN - COMPARISON OF 2 TECHNIQUES

Two hundred and thirty-five children who un derwent percutaneous renal biopsy under real-time ultrasound guidance at The Hospital for Sick C hildren, between 1 January 1991 and 31 March 1993, were studied to com pare the incidence of complications after biopsies with the Trucut nee dle (TN) and the Bard Biopty gun (BG). Of the 190 cases for which full clinical details were available and in which a single instrument was used for renal biopsy, 157 were biopsied with the BG and 33 with the T N. There was no significant difference between the two groups in varia bles such as age, weight, sex, number of needle passes and number of t issue cores obtained. The proportion of native and allograft biopsies in each group was similar. More children in the TN group underwent bio psy under general anaesthesia. Adequate diagnostic tissue samples were obtained in 189 of 190 cases. There were more complications in the TN group than in the BG group (P < 0.001). When allograft and native kid ney biopsies were analysed separately, this difference in complication s remained highly significant for the native kidney group (P < 0.005), though not for the allograft group. When the effect of needle size al one was investigated, there was no significant difference in the incid ence of complications when TN biopsies were compared with 14-gauge BG biopsies or when 14- and 18-gauge BG biopsies were compared with each other.