Services and Treatments

At Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, we offer your child deeply tailored and fully comprehensive care. That’s because we provide a continuum of care in one location, starting before your baby’s birth, throughout your baby’s critical first days and weeks of life while your baby grows, and through his or her kidney transplant, if required.

Services

Our NephroNICU team partners regularly with other Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford teams to care for your baby with serious kidney conditions to ensure the best outcomes, including but not limited to:

Treatments

As part of your baby’s care in Stanford Medicine Children’s Health’s NephroNICU, we offer the following treatments:

Newborn dialysis/kidney replacement therapy

Some babies with serious complex kidney conditions need extra support with dialysis—whereby a machine cleans your baby’s blood. In many NICUs, newborns—especially premature babies—are too small to receive dialysis. Yet, it is something we provide, because of our deep expertise. We use an innovative type of dialysis to help your newborn survive and remain healthy after birth. We pioneered the use of this technique in California, and we use special catheters for very small babies to provide the therapy they need to safely receive dialysis. We are one of a few centers around the nation to offer this innovative treatment, and we achieve excellent results. We are experts in both hemodialysis (dialysis using the blood) and peritoneal dialysis (dialysis using the abdomen) in the smallest infants.

Newborn dialysis

Here’s what you can expect with newborn dialysis:

  • Dialysis does the job of the kidneys and helps to keep your newborn baby’s health stable. It is performed at your baby’s bedside to support them as they grow and develop until they no longer need dialysis or receive kidney transplant.
  • Newborn dialysis allows for better nutrition and growth.
  • Our program’s dedicated interventional radiologists are highly skilled in placing catheters and helping to preserve your child’s blood vessels, which is critical for babies who require long-term dialysis and kidney transplant.
  • When your baby is ready to go home, we partner with a dialysis center close to your home so that your baby can continue to receive dialysis. We are happy to see your baby for virtual visits to check on their progress, and we partner with your local doctors to provide the best care. When children are discharged from our hospital on peritoneal dialysis (dialysis using the abdomen), our pediatric dialysis doctors and nurses will train you and support you in how to manage it at home.

Bridge-to-transplant care

A large purpose of our program is to help your newborn gain weight, grow, and stay strong so that they are ready for kidney transplant, if that is required. Our neonatology team is nationally recognized for its impressive outcomes for high-risk, premature newborns, and our kidney care team is nationally ranked No. 2 by U.S. News & World Report. Together, these teams provide your baby the very best care available.

Bridge-to-transplant care for your baby

Our continuum of care from birth through kidney transplant includes the following steps, along with dialysis:

  • Right after birth or upon hospital transfer, your baby receives advanced critical care to help stabilize their bodily functions.
  • For the first several months of life, your baby is cared for in our nationally recognized Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU), where they receive extraordinary care, including newborn and infant dialysis from our highly experienced neonatologists and kidney doctors. Known for its revolutionary care for critically ill premature babies and newborns, our NICU strives to meet your baby’s needs, including their developmental needs.
  • When your baby has grown big enough for dialysis to be performed outside the hospital, they will be discharged home, and our team will work with your local doctors to ensure that your baby is thriving and healthy on a home dialysis plan.
  • Kidney transplant usually occurs when a baby reaches a target weight, often at around 18 months of age. Many hospitals prefer babies to reach close to 25 pounds, while larger pediatric transplant centers, like ours, perform transplants in babies who are smaller, at around 22 pounds.
  • We are known nationwide for our exceptional, lifelong kidney transplant care, which includes assigning you a personal transplant coordinator who closely guides you through the process. We have outstanding success in keeping newborns and children of all ages stable before transplant and achieving a high quality of life for your child afterward.

Learn more about our pediatric kidney transplant care and outcomes >