Risk of complications after renal biopsy

Is renal biopsy associated with a high risk of serious complications? Can it be performed on an outpatient basis?

Jürgen Floege: No, it is not associated with a high risk. Our rule of thumb is that you may have relevant bleeding in 1 out of 100 to 200 procedures and that you may need surgery or have serious complications in 1 out of 1,000 procedures. Under normal circumstances, where there is no bleeding risk or so, it is a fairly safe procedure.

We personally never do it on an outpatient basis, because two-thirds of the complications develop in the first 16 hours, but 16 hours is a long time. If you do that on an outpatient basis, 16 hours would be at night after the biopsy. Having said that, I realize that some centers practice it in an outpatient setting but again, we personally do not do it.