Safety and efficacy of brain biopsy: Results from a single institution retrospective cohort study

•Brain biopsy is a common neurosurgical procedure allowing crucial histopathological diagnosis of new intracranial lesions.•In this cohort of 196 patients undergoing brain biopsy, there were severe or fatal complications following 2% of procedures.•Less severe or transient complications occurred in 2.5% of patients.•In all cases of severe or fatal complications, this occurred within 2 ​h of the procedure.•This provides further support to the published literature for the feasibility of day case brain biopsy.