Cardiologist
Pediatric nephrologists
Specialists:
If your child has kidney or urinary tract disease, bladder problems, kidney stones, or high blood pressure, a pediatric nephrologist has the special skills and experience to treat your child. Pediatric nephrologists treat children from infancy through late adolescence and in some centres up to young adulthood.
Why do you need to see them?
Pediatric nephrologists diagnose and treat children with the following disease and conditions:
- Acute glomerulonephritis
- Acute kidney failure
- Alport syndrome
- Blood in urine (hematuria)
- Chronic kidney disease
- Congenital anomaly of the kidney
- Congenital anomaly of the urinary tract
- Congenital urologic and nephrologic disorders
- Cystinosis
- End-stage renal disease
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
- Genetic and inherited kidney disorders
- Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- IgA nephropathy (Berger’s disease)
- In-utero kidney anomalies
- Inherited cystic kidney disease
- Kidney disease associated with conditions that are not limited to the kidney, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, systemic vasculitis, lupus, polyarteritis nodosa and Goodpasture’s syndrome
- Kidney stone disorders, including rare and genetic conditions, such as primary hyperoxaluria, cystinuria, Dent disease, and 24-hydroxylase deficiency
- Kidney transplantation
- Lupus nephritis
- Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis
- Membranous nephropathy
- Multicystic dysplastic kidney
- Nephritis
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Pediatric renal replacement therapy (dialysis)
- Polycystic kidney disease
- Posterior urethral valves
- Protein in urine
- Reflux nephropathy
- Renal vein thrombosis
- Tubulointerstitial nephritis
- Urinary reflux
- Urinary tract infections, recurrent
- Vesicoureteral reflux
What do they do?
Pediatric nephrologists diagnose, treat, and manage many disorders affecting the kidney and urinary tract, including kidney failure, high blood pressure, inherited kidney diseases, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, and abnormalities in the urine such as blood and protein. They also know how to evaluate and treat problems with growth and development that are specifically related to chronic kidney disease. They are also skilled in helping patients transition from pediatric nephrologists to nephrologists and urologists that care for adult patients.
Pediatric nephrologists generally provide the following services:
- Dialysis
- Kidney transplantation
- Kidney biopsies
- The interpretation of X-ray studies of the kidney
- The interpretation of laboratory studies related to kidney disease
- Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
Pediatric nephrologists are the coordinators of a team that includes specialized nurses, dieticians, and social workers, all dedicated to the care of children with kidney diseases. They work closely with other physicians such as pediatric urologists, pediatric surgeons, and pediatric radiologists.
Physician consultation is a good opportunity and you should be prepared for it.
- Carry all necessary medical records for the discussion. It helps in better understanding your heart condition and avoids repetition of diagnostic tests.
- Make sure you discuss your past medical history, surgical history, family history, and medications that you are taking.
- Discuss about your lifestyle habits, dietary habits and also about your profession. Your lifestyle and nature of job may be associated with the risk for cardiac diseases.