Nephrology, Urology and Therapeutics

Biopsy

A biopsy is the removal of one or more tissue samples for further examination under a special microscope in order to identify the samples more precisely. Renal biopsy samples are obtained in two ways: percutaneous biopsy and open biopsy. For a percutaneous biopsy, a needle is inserted through the skin overlying the kidney and usually uses ultrasound to guide it to the correct position inside the kidney. An open biopsy is an operation in which a kidney sample is taken from the kidney and the sample is given to a pathology laboratory to check for signs of disease.