Why Choose CHOP's Pediatric Kidney Stone Center

A dedicated focus on pediatric stone disease

Once considered an adult disease, kidney stones have become increasingly common in children and adolescents. To address the unique needs of children with kidney stones, we created the Pediatric Kidney Stone Center, a program within the Divisions of Urology and Nephrology that is solely dedicated to the management of kidney stones.

We treat hundreds of children and adolescents with kidney stones from across the United States and world each year. Patients have traveled from nearly half of the 50 states and more than 10 countries to seek care from our team of experts.

Our experience helps us provide the best possible care for each child we see. Since 2013, more than 1,500 patients have been evaluated and treated by the Stone Center.

Stone Center Patient Visits

This chart shows the volume of pediatric kidney stone office visits completed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Urology over the past five years (2018 through 2022).

 
Calendar Year

Since 2010, we have performed more than 685 surgical procedures to remove kidney stones. The graph below shows a snapshot of the volume of procedures we’ve performed over the past five years.

Kidney Stone Procedures

This chart shows the volume of pediatric kidney stone procedures performed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Urology over the past five years (2018 through 2022).

 
Calendar Year

Coordinated care from a multidisciplinary team

The Stone Center team brings together a variety of specialists to ensure that your child’s medical and nutritional needs are being met. This includes pediatric urologists, nephrologists, emergency medicine physicians, dieticians and metabolism experts to treat the underlying metabolic disorder that may predispose your child to stone disease.

This multidisciplinary collaboration also includes radiologists and anesthesiologists. Our experts work together to reduce the burden of stone disease and improve the quality of life for our patients and their families.

Services to meet your child's every need

As a part of CHOP's Divisions of Urology and Nephrology, children treated by the Kidney Stone Center have access to the full spectrum of services offered by the Hospital. We have a team of urological surgeons, nephrologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses and clinical psychologists available to manage your child's medical, surgical and psychosocial needs. We also work with your pediatrician, other specialty care physicians, and schools to make sure that your child functions to her or his fullest potential.

A commitment to improved patient outcomes

We are involved in ongoing research efforts dedicated to preventing kidney stone recurrence and improving treatment options for children with kidney stones. This includes multiple NIH-sponsored randomized clinical trials and studies that will advance our knowledge of how to best care for children with kidney stones. 

Accurate diagnosis is an important first step in managing kidney stones and improving patient outcomes. Our team members helped to develop a treatment algorithm to ensure that necessary — but not extraneous — tests and referrals are made promptly. Most recently, we partnered with CHOP's Emergency Department and Department of Radiology to create a standardized clinical pathway for the evaluation of children with a suspected urinary tract stone in the acute setting.


Next Steps
Appointments and Referrals
Kidney Stones in Children - CHOP's Pediatric Stone Center

Watch: Treating Kidney Stones in Children

Learn about the rising incidence of kidney stones in children and how stones are diagnosed and treated at CHOP's Pediatric Kidney Stone Center.

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Patient Volumes and Outcomes

We treat a high volume of children and adolescents with kidney stones each year, experience that helps us provide the best possible care for your child.