Nowadays there is no real difference for the necessity of a percutaneous renal biopsy compared with the statement of Black 1962 (!) in his book "Renal disease". There are several reasons indicating a renal biopsy: 1. evidence of an exact diagnosis; 2. differentiation between acute or irreversible chronic lesions; 3. in case of immunosuppressive therapy the knowledge of renal morphology prior to
... [Show full abstract] and after therapy (repeated biopsies); 4. the biopsy is a presumption for a therapeutic trial of a special entity. In general knowledge of renal morphology allows a deepening of clinical case discussions. In comparison to earlier years there are some newer developments: safety and accuracy of biopsies have been improved by use of an automatic biopsy engine. For the judgement of morphology a diagnostic procedure with three obligate methods (lightmicroscopy, immunhistology, electron microscopy) has been successfully introduced. Protocol (repeated) biopsies of kidney transplants were performed for scientific work.
