Background: No consensus exists on the amount of bed rest required after renal biopsy. Moreover, forced prolonged bed rest can be uncomfortable in patients undergoing renal biopsy.
Objective: To evaluate whether the length of strict bed rest affects the incidence of pain and other complications after renal biopsy. STUDY DESIGN, FACILITY, AND PATIENTS: This single-center retrospective observational study was conducted in 94 consecutive patients undergoing biopsy of a native kidney between November 2005 and December 2006 at Mie University Hospital. The control group was composed of 317 patients who underwent biopsy of a native kidney between January 2001 and October 2005.
Methods: The incidence of biopsy-related complications was compared between two periods of strict bed rest: 2 h of strict bed rest with no abdominal bandage (November 2005 to December 2006) and 7 h of strict bed rest with an abdominal bandage (January 2001 to October 2005). The primary outcome was the incidence of back pain requiring analgesics. The secondary outcomes were: need for transfusion or hemostatic intervention, decrease of >/=10% in hemoglobin (Hb) after biopsy, macroscopic hematuria, infection possibly related to biopsy, need for single or indwelling bladder catheterization, and other biopsy-related complications.
Results: The incidence of back pain requiring analgesics decreased with a shorter period of strict bed rest [7.5% versus 21.1%, odds ratio (OR) 0.30, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.12-0.64, p = 0.004]. Even after adjustment for age, sex, perinephric hematoma size, and number of biopsy punctures, the incidence of back pain decreased significantly (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.73, p = 0.01). With a shorter period of strict bed rest, there were no significant differences in bleeding complications (need for transfusion or other hemostatic intervention), decrease of >or=10% in Hb or macroscopic hematuria. However, the need for indwelling bladder catheterization decreased significantly (36.2% versus 50.5%, OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.34-0.88, p = 0.013).
Conclusions: Shortening the period of strict bed rest after renal biopsy from 7 h to 2 h decreased the incidence of back pain, but there was no increase in bleeding or other biopsy-related complications. Our findings suggest that a shorter period of strict bed rest can safely reduce discomfort in renal biopsy patients.