Renal Biopsy in Patients Aged 65 Years and Older: A Clinicopathological Analysis

AIM: Elderly patients with renal disease have recently attracted increased attention. There has also been an increase in renal biopsies in these patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the renal biopsy on the diagnosis, management and prognosis of renal diseases in the elderly.

MATERIAL and METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical files of 632 patients who had undergone renal biopsy in the department of Nephrology, Gulhane School of Medicine between 2000 and 2007. Thirty of these patients included in the present study were 65 or more years old.

RESULTS: The most common indication for renal biopsy was acute renal injury and acute on chronic renal disease (53.3%), nephrotic syndrome (40%) and non-nephrotic proteinuria (6.6%) in these patients. In the acute renal injury group, renal biopsy showed acute interstitial nephritis, acute tubular necrosis and crescentic glomerulonephritis while in the acute on chronic renal disease group it showed chronic interstitial nephritis, renal amyloidosis and chronic glomerulonephritis. In the nephrotic syndrome group, renal biopsy showed minimal change disease, renal amyloidosis, membranous glomerulonephritis and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis while in the non-nephrotic proteinuric group it showed focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

CONCLUSION: Study data suggest that renal biopsy has influence on the diagnosis, management and prognosis of renal disease the elderly patients. This procedure should be performed without any age limitation when a renal biopsy indication emerges in elderly patients.