Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program

Giving children the chance they deserve

Children’s Wisconsin has been improving the health of children with end-stage kidney disease for decades.

Children who undergo kidney transplants tend to have longer life spans and a better quality of life compared to other children who stay on dialysis. A kidney transplant can help a child feel more energetic and lead an active life.

Our goal at Children’s to restore your child to health and get him or her back to an active life and a normalized childhood as quickly and safely as possible. As a result, 100% of our kidney transplant patients return to school about a month post-surgery.

A team dedicated to your child

The Children’s kidney transplant team is with you and your family through every phase of the process, from evaluation to surgery to follow-up care. We want to assure your child is at his or her best. Your transplant coordinator will help guide you through each step.

Our experienced, dedicated specialists include:

• Pediatric nephrologist (kidney specialist)
• Transplant surgeon
• Transplant coordinator
• Clinical nurses
• Social worker
• Dietician
• Pharmacist
• Child life specialist
• Child psychologist
• Financial counselor

Other pediatric specialists as required.

Improving the transplant process

As the first in the state to perform a pediatric combined kidney and heart transplant, our world class team is dedicated to improving outcomes for children in renal failure.

As a part of that initiative, we have built key partnerships. Our affiliation with Froedtert Hospital allows for the best care of the donor. The transplant teams at the two facilities make the living donor transplant process as easy and seamless as possible.

We work with three different donor types in the hope of finding a donor kidney for your child as quickly as possible. These three sources are:

• Relatives of your child
• Non-related living donor
• Deceased donor

In addition, Children’s works with researchers at the Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin to perform transplants between donors and recipients with incompatible blood types. This can reduce the amount of time spent waiting for a kidney to become available.

Transplant process:

The pediatric kidney transplant process at Children’s includes the following steps:

• Evaluation
• Living donors
• Placement on UNOS list
• Pre-transplant education
• Kidney transplant
• Aftercare
• Follow-up care

Learn more about the kidney transplant process >>

Conditions

A number of conditions can lead to end-stage renal failure and the need for kidney transplant, including:

• Congenital kidney disorders
• Acquired diseases
• Glomerulonephritis
• Polycystic kidney disease

Learn more about the kidney transplant conditions >> 

Research

One of the most important ways we work on behalf of children and their families is through our research initiatives in pediatric kidney transplant. This includes:

• Clinical trials
• Research

Patient stories: Conversations with Claire

Conversations with Claire is a video series that provides insight into the organ transplant experience from a child’s perspective. This video series is designed to help children and their parents prepare for a kidney transplant. It also provides education about life after a kidney transplant. Watch now.

Learn more about UNOS

The United Network for Organ Sharing manages the nation’s organ donation system.