Phone: 858-966-8882
Dr. Nadine Benador provides dialysis treatments.
When kidneys fail to function adequately to remove the toxins and fluid replacement of the kidney function is needed. You may need one of the treatments described below.
Hemodialysis
Some children with end-stage kidney disease are best treated by hemodialysis, a procedure where blood is removed from the body and pumped through a hemodialysis filter (an artificial kidney), where it is cleaned and simultaneously returned to the child.
Peritoneal Dialysis
Peritoneal dialysis is a special type of dialysis where a sterile solution of sugar and a salts are infused into the abdomen, then drained. The treatment is able to remove toxins and fluid. One of the advantages of peritoneal dialysis is that patients can receive this form of therapy at home.
Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy
Sometimes, peritoneal dialysis is not the right choice, and the child’s blood pressure does not allow for regular hemodialysis. For these children, who are mostly admitted to the intensive care unit, a slow form of hemodialysis called continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is used.
We have developed unique treatment options for very sick children in intensive care, including using CRRT and plasmapheresis at the same time. A special technique, rapid exchange of continuous renal replacement therapy (RECRRT), is now being routinely used to decrease the amount of blood exposure for the child and reduce the variability of blood pressures that often happens without RECRRT.