Should Renal Mass Biopsy Be Performed prior to or Concomitantly with Thermal Ablation?

Purpose: To determine diagnostic yield of renal biopsies performed in patients referred for image-guided tumor ablation (IGTA) and the frequency with which biopsy results would have obviated the need for subsequent ablation.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of an internal ablation database of a single institution revealed 401 consecutive percutaneous renal mass IGTAs performed from April 2000 to April 2015. Of 401 ablations, 32 were excluded, yielding 369 ablation events in 342 patients, which represented the study cohort.