Renal transplant biopsy: what does it tell?

Abstract

The value of the renal allograft biopsy has been significantly enhanced by several developments in 1997 including the following: the first convincing demonstration that molecular biology techniques can be applied to renal allograft tissue to obtain a diagnosis of acute rejection with high sensitivity and specificity; the development of an improved, internationally agreed classification of kidney transplantation pathology ('Banff 1997'); and significant new insights into the specific pathology of chronic rejection, involving splitting and lamination of peritubular capillary basement membranes and the presence of increased apoptotic cell death. Although it is predictable that long-term technology might eliminate the need for renal allograft biopsies altogether, in the short term these new breakthroughs will greatly increase the value of this procedure in the management of renal transplant patients.