Tender wagging care
Kidney disease
Overview
Most people are born with two kidneys, bean-shaped organs located at either side of the spine, behind the abdominal organs and below the rib cage. The kidneys play a major role in keeping you healthy by filtering waste products from normal body functions out of the blood, passing them from the body as urine, and returning water and chemicals back to the body as necessary; regulating blood pressure by releasing several hormones; and stimulating red blood cell production by releasing the hormone erythropoietin.
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital provides consultation and treatment for children with various diseases of the urinary tract and kidney, including those resulting in kidney failure.
Some of the conditions we treat include:
- Nephritis
- Nephrosis
- Hypertension
- Electrolyte disorders
- Disorders of calcium and phosphorus metabolism
- Urinary tract infection
- Kidney stone disease
- Nutrition and growth disorders related to kidney disease
- Kidney failure
Causes of Kidney Failure
Children's kidney diseases that can progress to moderate or severe kidney failure include:
Congenital Kidney Disease:
- Anatomic deformities of the posterior urethral valves or bladder
- Reflux nephropathy, a failure of the bladder's valve mechanism that results in urine backing up into the kidney
- Renal dysplasia, or abnormal growths in the kidneys
Genetic, or Inherited, Disease:
- Polycystic kidney disease, numerous cysts in both kidneys that destroy normal kidney tissue
- Alport's syndrome
- Congenital nephrotic syndrome, resulting from damage to the kidneys' filtering structures, called glomeruli
Acquired Glomerulonephritis, or inflammation of the glomeruli, the kidneys' filtering units:
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or scarring of the glomeruli
- Vasculitis (granulomatosis with polyangiitis, polyarteritis nodosa, SLE)
- IgA nephropathy
- Chronic glomerulonephritis
- Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis
- Henoch schonlein purpura
More treatment info
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals medical specialists have reviewed this information. It is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your child's doctor or other health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any questions or concerns you may have with your child's provider.
Where to get care (4)
Kidney Clinic
Kidney Transplant Program
Clinical trials
APOL1 Long-term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network (APOLLO)
Time from receipt of kidney transplant to death-censored renal allograft failure. Measured in days.
Recruiting
More about this studyAwards & recognition
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Ranked among the nation's best in 11 specialties