Dialysis

At University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, children are treated at the Pediatric Dialysis Center, the only facility of its kind in Iowa. Our staff is dedicated to helping your child get the care he or she needs in order to lead the most normal life possible.

The kidneys remove waste products and extra water from the blood. If the kidneys do not work properly, your child will need some help to do this work. At Stead Family Children’s Hospital our patients are treated through hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis (both center and home-based therapies). Each type of dialysis will affect your family's lifestyle. Your doctor and nurses will help you choose the one that is best for your child. Each situation is different.

Hemodialysis

With hemodialysis, your child's blood passes through a filter to remove waste products, extra salt, and extra water. Hemodialysis helps control blood pressure and keeps the proper balance of potassium, sodium, calcium, and bicarbonate in the body. Hemodialysis is done at the Pediatric Dialysis Center, typically three times a week. Patients are connected to a machine that removes waste products and extra water from their blood, doing the work of a healthy kidney. Each dialysis session lasts up to four hours.

Peritoneal Dialysis

Peritoneal dialysis uses the lining of your child's abdomen, called the peritoneal membrane, to filter blood. Fluid is put in the patient’s abdomen through a small, flexible tube called a peritoneal dialysis catheter and flushed out either every night while the patient sleeps (automatic peritoneal dialysis) or by regular exchanges throughout the day (continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis). This type of dialysis can be performed at home each day with the help of family members.

Child and Family-Centered Care

Dialysis is a life-saving treatment, but chronic kidney failure can bring on emotional, social, medical and financial issues and stresses for children and their families. Our staff is committed to lessening the burden of dialysis on patients and their families through supportive child and family-centered care.

The child-friendly Pediatric Dialysis Center was made possible with the support of Walmart and Sam’s Club, whose associates raised and donated $400,000 for the project through Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.