Open AccessTo Biopsy or Not to Biopsy? Should We Screen the Histology of Stable Renal Grafts?
Author(s) -
Olivier Thaunat,
Christophe Legendre,
Emmanuel Morélon,
H Kreis,
Marie-France Mamzer-Bruneel
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.45
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1534-6080
pISSN - 0041-1337
DOI - 10.1097/01.tp.0000282870.71282.ed
Subject(s) - medicine , biopsy , protocol (science) , intensive care medicine , surgery , renal biopsy , disease , kidney disease , pathology , alternative medicine
Chronic allograft dysfunction is currently the main cause of late allograft failure. Recent encouraging evidence suggests that it may be possible to delay the development of graft damages if adequate management is initiated early in the course of the disease. These observations have renewed interest in the performance of protocol biopsies as routine follow-up procedure for the screening of renal transplants. In the present review, we summarize the available data from the literature to determine the pros and cons of protocol renal allograft biopsies. On the basis of this evidence, we discuss the ethical concerns raised by this procedure.