Major complications following percutaneous renal biopsy in selected patients are uncommon. Gross hematuria, the most frequent complication, has been reported in from 3% to 10% of patients and usually subsides in 24 to 48 hours. Back pain has been reported in 1% to 10% of patients and perirenal hematoma in 0.1% to 0.6%.1-5 Slotkin and Madsen6 in their report of 5,000 cases includes 27 cases of perirenal hematoma, 6 nephrectomies, 4 deaths, and 2 lacerations of the renal pelvis. Kark's7 recent article includes a survey of 8,081 renal biopsies in which there were 16 perirenal hematomas and 5 nephrectomies. Seventeen deaths attributed to percutaneous renal biopsy have been discussed in the literature.8,9 Hemorrhage is evident, usually in the immediate postbiopsy period, but several cases of late hemorrhage have been reported.10,12 Very rare complications, occurring before improved localization techniques were employed, included laceration of the liver