The renal center provides diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care of infants, children and adolescents with renal conditions, such as urinary tract infections, congenital renal disorders, hereditary renal disease, nephritis, renal tubular diseases, nephrotic syndrome and cystic diseases, as well as for patients with proteinuria and hematuria. The clinic also manages patients with hypertension and includes a dialysis unit.
Patients are seen by self- or physician referral.

Texas Children’s Hospital now provides its renal patients with pheresis. Pheresis is the process of separating unwanted cells or components (such as abnormal white cells in a leukemia patient) from a patient’s blood and returning the desired components, along with the replacement fluids, to the patient. Centrifuges inside the pheresis machines spin the blood so fast it separates into different components, making it easy to remove the plasma from the whole blood.

Pheresis is most commonly used in patients with sickle cell disease, neurology, and hematology patients, and patients who need transplantation.

Rena Dee
Texas Children’s nephrology nurses bring happiness to chronically ill children across the world by introducing them to a very special friend - Rena Dee. She is a 16-inch cloth doll who travels to different hospitals with pediatric dialysis units and teaches children about geography and other cultures. She also allows children receiving renal dialysis to share secrets, tips and strategies to cope with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Designed by a nephrology nurse and a child life specialist to give renal dialysis patients a feeling of travel, Rena Dee has visited hospitals across the U.S. and the world.

Renal Transplant Program (in Renal Clinic)

Outpatient clinic

Dialysis unit