- Services
- Pediatric Nephrology
- Treatments
Pediatric Kidney Treatments
Take advantage of University Health’s comprehensive pediatric kidney (renal) treatments for your child. Get care from a compassionate, experienced team that understands how to care for children with kidney diseases.
Personalized Care & Treatment
Look forward to patient and family-centered care and attention in the hospital and at our clinics. We hope you’ll participate in your child’s care to help them manage their condition and feel better.
Kidney Treatments for Children
Depending on your child’s condition and its seriousness, treatments may vary. Some kidney conditions benefit from dietary changes or medications, such as:
- Antibiotics to kill bacterial infections
- Antihypertensive medications to lower blood pressure
- Corticosteroids to decrease inflammation and swelling
- Diuretics to remove too much fluid from the body
- Desmopressin acetate (DDAVP) to reduce urine production overnight and treat bedwetting
- ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) to treat protein loss in the urine
- Over-the-counter pain relievers
- Peritoneal dialysis
- Hemodialysis
- Kidney transplant
Kidney Failure Treatments
If your child has acute or chronic kidney failure or end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), the kidneys cannot do their normal work. When the kidneys don’t work properly, it makes your child sick. Treatment options to replace the work of the kidney are dialysis or transplantation of the kidney.
Dialysis
Dialysis does the work of your child’s kidneys by filtering waste and fluid from the body. Look to us for children’s hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis treatments. Your doctor will help you decide which type is the best treatment for your child. We provide dialysis for kids in the hospital and through our outpatient dialysis center at University Hospital.
If your child is very ill and cannot tolerate dialysis, he or she may need continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).Kidney Transplantation
Choose a high-quality pediatric kidney transplant program close to home. University Health has the only pediatric kidney transplant center in San Antonio and Southwest Texas. Your child can get:
- Living donor pediatric kidney transplantation
- Deceased donor pediatric kidney transplantation