Better Biopsies Reduce Unnecessary Kidney Surgeries

MONDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Image-guided kidney biopsy helps doctors differentiate between benign and malignant kidney tumors and prevents unnecessary kidney surgeries, researchers say.

A team from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston conducted 407 image-guided kidney lesion biopsies in 377 patients, using either ultrasound, CT scan or a combination of both to guide a small needle through a patient''s skin in order to take a sample of the kidney lesion.

Malignant tissue was found in 239 of the 407 cases, tissue deemed "suspicious" for malignancy was found in 44 cases, and various other malignant or benign tumors in 40 cases. The procedure resulted in complications in 13 of the 407 cases, and these complications were managed without serious after-effects to the patients.

This kind of biopsy may help prevent unnecessary surgery, the researchers reported Monday at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"Up to 20 percent of kidney removal surgeries for tumors smaller than four centimeters are for benign tumors that did not need to be removed. Our study demonstrates that it is safe to biopsy these tumors. Further work on the outcome of patients with negative biopsies is needed, but our initial results are encouraging," study lead author Dr. Anthony Samir said in a prepared statement.

"Kidney mass biopsy is likely to become increasingly important as the therapeutic options for renal cell cancer increase," Samir noted. "Kidney biopsy may even guide chemotherapy in the future. The information about our substantial experience and good results with this procedure will be useful to kidney specialists from a variety of medical disciplines."

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about kidney biopsy.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: American Roentgen Ray Society, news release, May 1, 2006

Last Updated: May 1, 2006