Renal Mass Biopsy: Future Trends and Developments

Renal mass biopsy is a diagnostic technique that can be employed to evaluate the small renal mass (SRM); however, it remains underutilized to this day. The overall accuracy of percutaneous SRM biopsy is between 79% and 100%. The main shortcomings of renal mass biopsy are related to the inconsistencies in tumor grade and differentiation between some benign (i.e., oncocytoma) and malignant (i.e., chromophobe renal cell carcinoma) lesions and between different malignant subtypes. Future developments in this context include improvement of imaging modalities, development and validation of novel targeted biopsy platforms, and investigation of new biomarkers and cytogenetic features for molecular fingerprinting of the renal mass. Incorporation of these new developments to conventional axial imaging studies and histopathological examination can potentially aid in better risk stratification and management planning.