Percutaneous renal biopsy well-visualized by orthogonal ultrasound application using linear scanning

We attempted 24 percutaneous renal biopsies under orthogonal ultrasonic guidance in 23 children with renal diseases aged 1 to 17 years old. We used a 5 MHz linear-array transducer which was positioned on the side of the abdomen and aligned parallel to the biopsy needle so that projected ultrasound reaches the needle orthogonally. Thus, we could clearly and continuously monitor the biopsy needle and transverse plane of the kidney during the biopsy. We obtained diagnostically sufficient renal specimens in all subjects and found no significant complications, including macroscopic hematuria, in any case. We found that our method simultaneously visualized the biopsy needle and kidney much more clearly and made the biopsy far easier and safer than any other method previously proposed and we recommend the procedure be widely used in adult as well as child patients.