Percutaneous renal biopsy utilizing ultrasonic guidance and a semiautomated device.

Percutaneous renal biopsy is a fundamental diagnostic technique in urology and nephrology, recently refined by real-time ultrasonic guidance. The technique described in this article is a biopsy method employing real-time ultrasonic guidance and a semiautomated device. The new device has been constructed to improve percutaneous biopsy technique and to obtain more perfect specimens. This technique was successfully performed in 20 patients undergoing renal biopsy. Diagnostically satisfactory material containing an average of ten glomeruli per specimen was obtained. The results obtained with the new device Biopty Bard have been compared with the results obtained from the same number of biopsies performed with the traditional technique.