Fifteen years of kidney biopsies in children : a single center in Egypt

Abstract EN

This study retrospectively investigates the indications and results of renal biopsy in children to determine the patterns of childhood kidney disease in a single tertiary children's hospital in Egypt.

We included all the patients who underwent ultrasound-guided renal biopsy from 1998 to 2012.

All the kidney biopsies were studied under light microscopy, while immunofluorescence and electron microscopy were performed when indicated.

A total of 1246 renal biopsies were performed over 15 years, on 1096 patients.

The mean age of the patients at the time of biopsy was 9.2 ± 3.7 years.

The main indication for a biopsy was the steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (n = 354, 28.4 %), followed by the atypical nephrotic syndrome (n = 250, 20.1 %), and renal abnormalities in the systemic diseases (n = 228, 18.3 %).

In the 1226 pathologically diagnosed specimens, primary glomerulonephritis was the most common finding (n = 826, 67.4 %), followed by secondary glomerulonephritis (n = 238, 19.4 %).

The most common causes of primary glomerulonephritis were Minimal Change Disease (MCD) (n = 267, 21.8 %), diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (n = 188, 15.

3 %), and focal proliferative glomerulonephritis (n = 164, 13.3 %).

Lupus nephritis (n = 209, 17 %) was the most common cause of secondary glomerulonephritis.

We conclude that the steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome was the most frequent indication for biopsy and minimal change disease was the most common histopathological finding in our population.