Nephrology for Children

Whether your child or adolescent lives with chronic kidney disease or a challenging kidney condition or experiences a short-term kidney problem, you want the best possible care to help them return to and maintain good health.

Expert Care for Your Child’s Kidney Health

Choose the expert pediatric nephrologists at OU Health for an extensive evaluation and accurate diagnosis. You’ll work with these children’s kidney specialists in a multidisciplinary team environment that may include cardiologists, rheumatologists, endocrinologists and other healthcare professionals who collaborate to develop a treatment plan tailored for your child’s specific condition.

Children's Kidney Conditions

Rely on OU Health for comprehensive care and treatment of a wide range of kidney-related conditions affecting children, such as:

• Electrolyte abnormalities or fluid disorders
• Hematuria (blood in urine)
• Proteinuria (protein in urine)
• Nephrotic syndrome
• Glomerulonephritisand autoimmune diseases of the kidney
• Genetic kidney disease and polycystic kidney disease
• Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
• High blood pressure
• Kidney failure
• Chronic kidney disease
• Kidney stones
• Acute kidney injury
• Malformations of the urinary tract or kidneys
• Solitary kidney
• Bladder dysfunction or infection
• Vesicoureteral reflux

Leaders in Children's Dialysis & Kidney Transplant

If your child’s treatment plan calls for kidney dialysis or transplant, trust the pediatric nephrology specialists and pediatric transplant team at OU Health for top-quality care.

Through OU Health, you and your child gain access to Oklahoma’s only health system with a dedicated hemodialysis and outpatient peritoneal dialysis unit for children and adolescents up to age 18 who live with acute renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or who experience acute poisoning.

In addition, OU Health serves as Oklahoma’s only healthcare resource that performs children’s kidney transplants at the only children’s hospital in the five-state region to receive a silver medal from the United Organ Sharing Network for renal transplant service.

Camps for Kids with Chronic Kidney Conditions

Helping young people learn to live well with a chronic kidney condition means your child or adolescent benefits from the opportunity to participate in camps co-sponsored by OU Health at outdoor locations in Oklahoma.

• Camp Courage – Focuses on children with chronic kidney disease or myelomeningocele
• Camp Cavett – Welcomes children with various chronic illnesses to a large and diverse summertime adventure

Your Children's Nephrology Care Team

At OU Health, you and your child benefit from a pediatric nephrology team focused on helping your child thrive while living with chronic or acute kidney-related conditions. You’ll work with highly trained and experienced pediatric nephrologists who actively participate in research studies in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium and the Standardized Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End-stage Renal Disease (SCOPE) dialysis collaborative.

Your expert team also may include nurse educators who make arrangements to coordinate care with specialists and laboratories, while helping you learn to manage your child’s medications and move toward a more healthful lifestyle.

For children on dialysis or in pre-dialysis stages of chronic kidney disease or kidney transplant, your OU Health team provides extensive guidance and psychological support from a diverse group of healthcare professionals such as Child Life specialists, nurses with pediatric-specific training, dieticians, a pediatric pharmacist and a child psychologist. Everyone works together to create an optimal multidisciplinary care plan to achieve the best possible kidney health outcomes for your child’s particular situation.