Urologist, MD, PhD, Associate professor Dept. of Urology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
Background: Life expectancy is increasing, as is the number of small renal masses detected incidentally. RBx is recommended to personalize treatment (surveillance, ablation or surgery), The aim of this study is to evaluate aspects of our RBx policy over the last 15 years
Methods: Patients who underwent RBx at HUS between 2008 and 2022 are included. Data from these 398 patients and 463 biopsies were retrieved from the medical records and presented as median (IQR) or n (%).
Results: The RBx was performed due to primary kidney tumor (PKT) in 279 patients and as a part of a metastatic work-up in 119. As expected, patients with PKT were older than the metastatic patients. Moreover, PKTs were smaller, 3.2cm (2.3-5.0) vs 8.0cm (4.5 -10.5). An increasing number of patients with PKT had RBx, illustrated with 23, 93 and 163 in first, second and third period, respectively. An increase use was also seen in metastatic patients, as 34, 28 and 57 had RBx in the beforementioned periods. For PKT there was a trend towards smaller tumors the latter years. No difference in gender, laterality, ASA or core-length was found. Overall, representative RBx was achieved in 85,1% (394/463) including both primary biopsies and re-biopsies. Only eight patients had complictions including readmittance due to hematuria or hematomas.
Conclusions: The use of RBx at HUS har increased for both patients with PKT and patient with metastatic disease. As the procedure is performed with few complications and a satisfactory diagnostic yield, it strengten its role as a valuable and needed tool for clinicians.