Urinary Stone Program

Children’s National Hospital has one of only a few clinics in the country dedicated to care for children with urinary tract stone diseases.

The Urinary Stone Program brings together a multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists in Urology, Nephrology, and nutrition to treat children affected by a wide range of conditions, including kidney stone, ureteral stones, and bladder stones.

An Important Health Concern

Substances in urine form stones, which vary in shape and size. Although a common problem for adults, stones were generally rare in children. During the past several years, stones are increasingly common in young patients.Children’s specialists and the pediatric health community are concerned about the dramatic increase in children with stones because, among other complications, they can be extremely painful and adversely affect a child’s urinary tract health.

The rise in cases is a particularly significant concern in the Washington, DC, area, which lies in a region of the country known as the “stone belt.” Across the “stone belt,” urinary tract stones are more common in both children and adults.

Advanced Care

Some patients need surgery or a series of procedures to treat the stone(s) entirely. Children’s urologists use the most advanced surgical procedures available, including:

• Cystoscopy
• Ureteroscopy
• Holmium-laser lithotripsy
• Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)
• Percutaneous nephrostolithotomy (PCNL)
• Open pyelolithotomy or ureterolithotomy
• Laparoscopic or robotic pyelolithotomy or ureterolithotomy

Education is Key

Knowing how to minimize the risk of stones is the best way for most individuals to prevent them. The Children’s Urinary Stone Program emphasizes education for kids and their families about risk factors for kidney stone formation.Because the condition affects every child differently, one of the clinic’s nephrologists meets with you and your child to go over the individual dietary and lifestyle factors that contributed to the condition and explains how to prevent future stones. The nephrologist’s comprehensive evaluation includes a detailed history, nutritional evaluation, and analysis of urine and blood to identify the most pertinent risk factors contributing to stone formation in each individual patient.