Fragmented Kidney biopsy

[Gemini-st]

Has anyone else had this?

When I was diagnosed with CKD I had a kidney biopsy and they advised they would take 2-3 samples. Unfortunately the samples were all fragmented and they ended up taking 12 samples. All were fragmented which my nephrologist advised was due to scarring. Should I be really concerned about this? I am stage 3a with eGFR of 58. My diagnosis is IgA Nephropathy. I am concerned my kidneys are totally destroyed as they couldn’t get one clear sample.

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

I am not sure how common it is to have multiple attempts to get a "good" biopsy sample, but I know it did take my doctor 5 attempts to get a median sample. They use an ultra sound to locate the correct area, but for me they kept getting a sample on the edge of the kidney and wanted it to be more in the middle. I never heard the doctor say anything about it be a "fragmented" sample.I am 21+ years post transplant and my native kidneys can hardly be found with an ultrasound. I was diagnosed with FSGS and my kidneys are shrinking to barely the size of a ping-pong ball.