Abstract
Objective: To study and evaluate the accuracy and safety of automated biopsy gun for collection of renal tissue sample in children. Design: Hospital based prospective study. Place and Duration: Department of Pediatric Medicine, Combined Military Hospital, Lahore, July 2005 –July 2010. Methodology: Fifty children having known nephrotic syndrome (steroid dependent, steroid resistant and frequently relapsing), were subjected to ultrasound-guided percutaneous renal biopsy with the help of automated biopsy gun (16G or 18G needle size) under local anesthesia in 1-3 attempts in each patient and followed by a post-biopsy observation for 24 hours. Results: With a male preponderance of 38 (76%) patients, the age ranged from 2 to 14 years with a mean±SD (7.20 ±3.41) years. Adequate renal tissue specimen was obtained in 48 (96%) cases while 2 (4%) tissue samples were inadequate. Core length of tissue sample was mean ±SD (1.04 ±0.37) and the number of glomeruli per tissue specimen remained mean±SD (13.07±3.62). Five patients developed small perinephric hematoma
