Renal Biopsy in Children—Effect on Treatment Decisions: A Single-Center Experience

Renal biopsy is an important diagnostic tool, though invasive and carries risks involved with sedation. The authors wanted to compare suspect histopathological diagnosis with final diagnosis and find out impact of biopsy findings on treatment. They retrospectively analyzed 108 patients. Details of patients, diagnosis, treatment and complications due to kidney biopsy were documented. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0 (IBM, NY). Indications of 108 children (69 boys, 39 girls) undergoing renal biopsy were steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (35.1%), steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome requiring calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) (12%), nephrotic range proteinuria with atypical features (16.7%), lupus nephritis (13%), and acute kidney injury (AKI) stage 3 (17.6%). Suspect and histopathological diagnoses were similar in 53% cases with agreement factor of 0.462. Treatment changed in 28.7%. Renal biopsy made substantial impact in patients with nephrotic range proteinuria with atypical features (55.6%) and AKI stage 3 (52.6%). One (0.9%) had developed gross hematuria, which resolved spontaneously.