The Kidney Stone Program at Boston Children’s Hospital cares for children and adolescents who are affected by kidney stones, including those who have had them previously and those who are at risk for developing them.
Kidney stones are small, hard deposits of mineral and acid salts that form inside the kidneys or ureter (the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder). These stones can block the drainage of urine and cause pain.
Once considered an “adult” condition, the incidence of kidney stones in children has increased steadily over the years. In response to this increase, our multidisciplinary clinic brings together pediatric nephrologists, urologists and nurses to help treat and manage children with stones.
Treatments typically involve noninvasive or minimally invasive surgical techniques. In rare instances, we use robotic surgery techniques to remove the stones. After treatment, experts in nephrology perform blood and urine analysis to look for any abnormalities that could be potential causes for the stones.
Our kidney stone expertise
Since its establishment in 2007, our program has already helped thousands of children afflicted with kidney stones.
Our clinic involves pediatric urologists who specialize in the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of stones. Since prevention is also a key part of our treatment plan, our program includes experts in nephrology who perform an extensive series of blood and urine analysis to help determine the cause of stones and prevent them from reoccurring.
This collective approach ensures that we provide the most comprehensive and coordinated care to each child we treat.
About the Kidney Stone Program
Our mission is to provide exceptional evaluation and treatment of kidney stones and reduce the rate of their reoccurrence. Another important goal is reducing the effects of radiation exposure experienced during the evaluation and treatment process.
One way we achieve this is by using ultrasound for diagnosis, rather than a traditional computed tomography (CT) scan which involves radiation. Our center also has an active protocol in place to monitor and minimize the amount of fluoroscopy time that children receive in the operating room. Fluoroscopy is a special technique that produces real-time images from inside a child’s body. However, since fluoroscopy uses x-ray technology, it also involves exposure to radiation.
