Nephrology
Who we are
Children's Hospital Boston's specialists in the Division of Nephrology care for infants, children and adolescents with congenital and acquired kidney disease. We are the largest pediatric nephrology service in the United States with:
- four specialty renal programs and services
- 19 ongoing clinical research projects
- 11 attending pediatric nephrologists
Our division includes a seven-bed pediatric dialysis unit for children having acute and chronic hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).
Children's ranks high
U.S. News & World Report ranks Children's #1 for pediatric kidney disorders, and in more specialties than any other pediatric hospital in the United States. [learn more]
Expertise
Our division has special expertise in the care of very young children with renal failure. We also specialize in caring for patients with complex urinary tract abnormalities who require dialysis and transplant services. We perform about:
- 4,700 ambulatory patient visits each year
- 6,500 chronic dialysis treatments annually
- 20 to 25 renal transplants per year
- 70 to 80 renal biopsies per year
Multidisciplinary approach
As researchers continue to make new discoveries in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease, our division is expanding accordingly:
- Because developmental anomalies are responsible for more than 50 percent of the causes of kidney failure in children, our division has assembled a large developmental and regenerative biology team.
- In order to take advantage of the remarkable breakthroughs of modern genomics, we are also developing a pharmacogenomics group, which develops drugs to address children's genetic differences.
Research
Children's Division of Nephrology is dedicated to developing lasting treatments for the most serious kidney diseases affecting children. Some of our initiatives include the following:
- We established a Transplantation Research Center in collaboration with the Brigham and Women's Hospital with the goal of improving patients' tolerance levels for organ transplants.
- Our researchers are investigating the vascular component of the immune response with an eye toward safer, more effective immunosuppressant protocols.
- Our Division has developed the largest and most active kidney transplant clinical trials group in the country in order to transfer such discoveries from the bench to the bedside.
- Our team can provide your child with state-of-the-art diagnosis, treatment and management of her condition. And, when appropriate, we work with specialists at other hospitals to ensure that your child receives comprehensive and coordinated care through her adulthood.
Shortening the waiting list
Children's Hospital Boston played an instrumental role in changing the way pediatric patients were listed on the organ waiting list. Thanks in part to our doctors' efforts, patients who are 18 and younger receive priority listing on the waiting list for a new kidney.
Innovation for FSGS
Our researchers, in collaboration with researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, have identified an important gene for segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a devastating kidney disease that is the second leading cause of kidney failure in children. This discovery may provide clues to developing treatments for the disease, for which there are currently no effective treatments.
Discover: Nephrology
Gene for devastating kidney disease discovered: Discovery suggests how toxin-filtering cells go awry
Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women's Hospital have identified an important genetic cause of a devastating kidney disease that is the second leading cause of kidney failure in children, according to The NephCure Foundation.
Conditions & Treatments
- Acute kidney injury
- Chronic kidney disease
- Glomerular Filtration Rate Test (GFR)
- Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP)
- Hydronephrosis
- Intravenous pyelogram (IVP)
- Kidney failure
- Kidney transplantation
- Nephrectomy
- Percutaneous nephrostomy
- Renal MAG3 Scan
- Urinary tract infection (UTI)
- Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR)
- Wilms' tumor
You'd never guess that this boy, who's always ready to make others laugh, has seen so much hardship of his own. Growing up in strife-ridden Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, and living for a time in a refugee camp, Richmond and his family immigrated to the United States three-and-a-half years ago through a refugee program that placed them in Worcester, Mass. Just as then-7-year-old Richmond was adjusting to his new life at the start of the school year in September 2003, he lost his appetite and began to experience severe bouts of vomiting. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with chronic renal failure and began needing dialysis.