Kidney Biopsy in Patients With Mechanical Ventilation: A Report of Ten Cases

In patients with mechanical ventilation or critically ill patients there are various mechanisms for kidney function impairment, ranging from systemic disease to intrinsic kidney etiology. Kidney biopsy is the study of choice for the diagnosis, treatment decision and prognosis of kidney disease. Ten critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation underwent kidney biopsy using 2 kidney biopsy techniques: the standard technique (prone position) in 5 patients and the lateral position (left lateral decubitus position) in 5 patients. Most of our patients had a kidney histological diagnosis secondary to autoimmune disease that required induction treatment. Despite the risk factors for complications, only one patient received a transfusion of packed red blood cells. The prone group had the highest number of deaths due to the severity of the patient's disease and unrelated to the procedure. Kidney biopsy in patients with mechanical ventilation is a high-risk procedure that should be performed on selected patients who can benefit from a histological diagnosis.