Aspiration biopsy of the kidney with a new fine needle: a way to obtain glomeruli for morphological study.

An improved fine needle is described for aspiration of kidney glomeruli. The needle, with a sharp inner edge 0.43 mm in diameter, is less traumatic than ordinary percutaneous kidney biopsy needles. Electron microscopy of specimens aspirated from kidneys of normal rabbits showed well-preserved glomeruli. Twenty-two of twenty-six specimens obtained from human kidneys by fine-needle aspiration contained glomeruli. Electron microscopic study of specimens aspirated from 12 patients showed that the needle provides adequate tissue for the diagnosis of diffuse glomerular diseases. The use of the fine needle widens the scope for studying the relation between glomerular fine structure and renal symptoms in many conditions in which conventional methods would not be justified.