Pediatric kidney transplant

At Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, our pediatric kidney transplantation program began in 2005 to provide Michigan families kidney transplantation services close to home. We work closely with you to support the process and your child's health, every step of the way. Additionally, we have been nationally recognized for our steroid-avoidance protocol for children with new transplants. Our innovative research program means state-of-the art care for every patient.

We are the only pediatric nephrology, dialysis and transplant provider in West Michigan. Our pediatric nephrology program offers comprehensive nephrology care for patients in all stages of chronic kidney disease. This includes both peritoneal and hemodialysis to bridge the time to transplant. Whenever possible, we strive for preemptive transplantation (transplant before going on dialysis) in our pediatric patients.

A kidney transplant can make life easier for children with some kidney diseases by ending the need for dialysis. It is an operation that replaces a non-functioning kidney with a healthy kidney, but it does not cure kidney disease. Julia Steinke, MD, medical director of our pediatric kidney transplant program talks about the procedure.

We have a cohesive and highly experienced kidney transplant team, offering a unique collaboration between medical and surgical specialists before and after transplantation. Additional key members of our transplant team include:

Our team of experts is supplemented by experienced pediatric specialists in urology, critical care, emergency medicine, hematology, genetics, endocrinology, anesthesiology, cardiothoracic surgery and interventional radiology, as well as the full services of the physicians and employees of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.