Kidney biopsy is performed to reveal the structure of a suspicious lesion detected in the kidney. In the past, when a mass was detected in the kidney, the classic practice was to remove the kidney completely (radical nephrectomy) or partially (partial nephrectomy) without needle biopsy. However, since some of the masses in the kidney were benign, this practice resulted in unnecessary removal of the kidney in some patients. This practice, which has many drawbacks, has been largely abandoned today and has left its place to needle biopsy, as in other organs.
Needle biopsy of the kidney is usually performed under the guidance of tomography, because most kidney masses detected today are small and small masses are better seen with tomography. After local anesthesia is applied to the skin and deep tissues, first a guide needle is used to advance to the mass with the help of tomography, and then a large number of biopsies are taken with a cutting needle (trukat, core biopsy needle) sent through this needle.
After a kidney biopsy, it can be determined with an accuracy of over 95% whether the mass is benign or malignant. Most malignant masses in the kidney are renal cell cancer (RCC). In the past, the only treatment in RCC was surgery, but nowadays, percutaneous ablation methods such as radiofrequency and cryoablation are used more and more. Recent studies have shown that the long-term results of percutaneous ablation are the same as surgery, but with a lower complication rate.