Outline provided for national kidney biopsy programme 

At the Irish Nephrology Society Winter Meeting 2026, Prof Austin Stack, Consultant Nephrologist, University Hospital Limerick, delivered a presentation on the need for a national kidney biopsy programme.

Prof Stack presented data on kidney biopsy rates and complications, regional data on the kidney biopsy integration project, and a roadmap for a national programme for the area.

 He highlighted the many benefits of a national programme.

These included: Providing information on the natural history of biopsy-proven kidney disease in Ireland, the incidence, prevalence, and variation across the country; the short-term and longer-term impact on outcomes; the deployment of predictive analytics and development of clinical prediction tools; and how a programme could facilitate greater participation in clinical research and clinical trials.

Prof Stack presented the results of a study aimed at determining the incidence rate of biopsy-proven kidney disease, the distribution of clinical diagnosis at the time of biopsy, and the frequency of complications.

The study compared findings from the HSE hospital inpatient enquiry (HIPE) dataset with the regional biopsy database.

The examination of the HIPE data covered the period 2015 to 2022. During this time, there were 5,881 kidney biopsies in public hospitals.

It found 62 per cent of these were conducted on men and 38 per cent on women.

The majority (61 per cent) were aged over 55 years. Some 61 per cent of biopsies were elective and 39 per cent were classed as an emergency.

Around 29 per cent had glomerular disease and 45 per cent were classed as “miscellaneous renal disorders”.

An analysis of the frequency of bleeding complications following kidney biopsy found major bleeding in 4.4 per cent of biopsies, while a red blood cell transfusion was required in 7.9 per cent of cases.

The second part of the study aimed to develop a prototype for extracting and integrating data from renal biopsy into the clinical record.

It examined the mid-west regional biopsy database, specifically kidney biopsies from the UL Hospitals Group for the period 2008–2024.

Some 1,024 kidney biopsies were found. The mean age of patients was 54 years, and the majority of patients were male.

This data was compared and contrasted with the national data.

Prof Stack said the study demonstrated an opportunity to develop a national biopsy programme, which could be used for research and quality improvement purposes.