Renal biopsy is a common procedure in most large hospitals. The safety and efficacy of this procedure have been well established,1 and complications, when they occur, are usually noted in the immediate postbiopsy period.2 This report concerns fatal, postbiopsy bleeding, occurring ten days after a percutaneous renal biopsy.
Report of Case
A 47-year-old man was admitted to the Philadelphia General Hospital on Feb 22, 1964, because of progressive weakness, lethargy, and neuropathy involving the left thigh of six months' duration. He had been hypertensive for more than six years. Otherwise, his past medical history was unremarkable.Physical examination on admission revealed a chronically ill Negro man in no acute distress. The blood pressure was 190/110 and the pulse 64/min. His optic fundi showed mild hypertensive changes. He had cardiomegaly and marked hyperesthesia over the lateral aspect of the left thigh.
Initial Laboratory Findings.
—Hemoglobin was 13.7 gm per