Renal (Kidney) Services at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus

The Renal (Kidney) Services program at Texas Children’s Hospital is one of the world's largest such efforts focused on infants, children and adolescents who have hypertension (high blood pressure) and both congenital and acquired kidney diseases. These conditions include:

• Acute and chronic kidney disease
• Autoimmune conditions that can affect the kidney, such as lupus and renal vasculitis
• Congenital abnormalities of the kidneys
• Glomerulonephritis
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Kidney stone disease
• Nephrotic syndrome

Kartik Pillutla, MD, is Medical Director of Renal Service at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.

“We provide comprehensive diagnostic, therapeutic and long-term care for our young patients,” Dr. Pillutla said. “Taking care of children and adolescents with kidney disease is a team effort. And our team members come together from multiple disciplines to give the best care possible. We have multiple clinic locations to make care more convenient for patients and families.”

In relation to hypertension, Dr. Pillutla pointed out that, “High blood pressure is a significant risk factor for both heart and kidney disease. We offer Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM), which is a machine that measures a patient’s blood pressure for a full 24 hours, providing a more accurate diagnosis of high blood pressure.  Our team strives to provide timely diagnosis and treatment to allow children and adolescents to live their lives to the fullest.” 

Exceptional dialysis treatment is also part of Renal (Kidney) Services.

“Our pediatric patients with kidney problems need very specialized care. We are proud to say that our Kidney Center at the North Austin Campus is the only hospital-based pediatric dialysis unit in Central Texas and offers 24/7 coverage for inpatient care. We treat pediatric and adolescent patients with chronic and acute kidney disease currently requiring dialysis,” Dr. Pillutla said.

The Austin dialysis unit:

• Is open 6 days a week
• Can treat patients who may require more than three treatments a week
• Offers 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week coverage for inpatient care
• Treats pediatric and adolescent patients with chronic and acute kidney disease currently requiring dialysis
• Includes team members such as nurses specially trained in pediatric dialysis, a renal dietitian, social worker and child life specialist 

We provide dialysis for:

• Acute in-patient hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD)
• Chronic HD, home PD and home hemodialysis (HHD)
• Training for home PD and HHD
• Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT)

We also provide acute and chronic therapeutic plasma exchange (plasmapheresis) and red blood exchanges.

“Our Kidney team at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus is here to provide comprehensive and advanced care to children and adolescents with kidney disease and hypertension” Dr. Pillutla said.

Visit our Austin Renal (Kidney) program section to learn more about our dialysis program at Texas Children’s North Austin Campus.