Services and Clinics | Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation | UC Davis Children's Hospital

Kidney (renal) disease can interfere with physical and mental developmental processes and can place children at high risk of contracting infections, bone disease and cancer through long-term use of immunosuppressive drugs. Children whose condition worsens to end-stage renal disease — also called ESRD or kidney failure — must be placed on dialysis or undergo a kidney transplant. Physicians may prescribe urine tests, blood tests, X-rays, ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT), a kidney biopsy or other means to evaluate and diagnose suspected kidney ailments.

Kidney transplantation offers the best outcomes for children with kidney failure, but complications including slow rejection of transplanted organs may require subsequent transplants. The Pediatric Nephrology Clinic is involved in preparing patients for surgery and in coordinating their post-surgical care and recovery. UC Davis Health ranked as one of the top centers in the nation for kidney transplants in 2021.

Children typically require dialysis for either of two reasons:

• Chronic kidney conditions
• Acute kidney failure

Our team coordinates with the UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine in administering kidney dialysis for chronic conditions. In conjunction with the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, we also provide state-of-the-art continuous hemodialysis procedures for critically ill children. We also train patients and their parents to perform acute peritoneal dialysis at home. 

Our unique outpatient peritoneal dialysis program provides pediatric patients and their families with training on home-based peritoneal dialysis, while patients await a kidney transplant. Many patients require dialysis for 10 to 12 hours a day. This program enables them to get that care safely at home from their parents or caregivers, with excellent outcomes and low infection rates. 

Urinary stones in children are uncommon and require specialized care. The workup and treatment of pediatric stone disease is different in that children tend to have identifiable chemical imbalances, have a higher recurrence rate, are more susceptible to radiation from imaging studies and the smaller size of organs makes surgical treatment more difficult.

The mission of the UC Davis Children’s Hospital pediatric kidney stone program is to provide comprehensive care to children and families with heightened attention to these issues. We are a multidisciplinary team of urologic surgeons, pediatric nephrologists, nurses, registered dietitians and a social worker. We offer the most up-to-date minimally invasive treatments and prevention programs.

We offer two clinics:

Pediatric Kidney Stone Clinic (PKIDS)

We identify pediatric patients with kidney stones, evaluate them for other urologic abnormalities that are associated with kidney stones, and determine if the kidney stones require surgical management or can be observed.

Pediatric patients who are first-time kidney stone formers, or are new UC Davis Health, should be seen at this clinic.

Multidisciplinary Pediatric Stone Clinic (MPS)

We provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for pediatric patients with kidney stone disease. This clinic brings together the knowledge and extensive experience of pediatric nephrologists, endourologists, pediatric dietitians and a social worker to help manage pediatric kidney stone patients who are at high risk for kidney stone recurrence. 

The emphasis of this clinic is on imaging surveillance, and dietary and medical prevention for recurrent kidney stone disease.