The division of nephrology provides comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services for children with all types of renal disease including hypertension, urinary tract infections, acute and chronic glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome and renal failure. Children with chronic renal failure and end-stage renal disease are treated by a high-skilled team offering hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplant.
Notably, the division of nephrology and the division of transplant surgery have established the only multidisciplinary pediatric kidney transplant clinic in the state of South Carolina, which offers care to children who are being evaluated for a kidney transplant as well as those who are post-transplant. The division also maintains membership in the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium (PNRC), which is a nationwide group of pediatric nephrology care team members with the goal to improve and promote high-quality care of pediatric nephrology patients through collaborative clinical and translational research.
Medical Services
- Hemodialysis
- Continual renal replacement therapy (CRRT)
- Peritoneal dialysis
- Apheresis
- Renal biopsy
- 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
- Pediatric kidney stone comprehensive analysis and management
- Renal transplant
Our Providers
Staff
- Stacy Sipple - Nephrology Care Coordinator
- Tamyra Whatley- Administrative Assistant
Training Programs
The division provides electives in nephrology to third and fourth-year medical students and for pediatric residents. More than 1,500 visits are handled in the pediatric nephrology clinic each year. Weekly seminars deal with renal pathology, nephrology, urology, and patient-care problems. The house officer is exposed to a variety of renal problems and participates in the care of dialysis and transplant patients.
Research Programs
Ongoing Research Projects
- Comprehensive Pediatric Hypertension and Diagnosis (AHRQ)
- Treatment outcomes of antibody mediated rejection (MWPNC)
- Treatment of Drug-resistant Pediatric Primary Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Using Liposorber® LA-15 System (Kaneka)
- PARAMOUr “PediAtric Renal AMr Outcomes” (PNRC)
- Kidney Interventions During Membrane Oxygenation (KIDMO) Study Group
- Neonatal Kidney Collaborative
- Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney injury Epidemiology in Neonates (AWAKEN) Study group
- Acute Renal Injury Sequelae in NICU Graduates (ARISING) U34 Study
- Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Injury, Renal Angina and Epidemiology in critically ill children (AWARE) AWARE study group
Quality Improvement Initiatives
Nephrology Research
Denis Guttridge, Ph.D.
Basic Science Research - Dr. Guttridge is the director of DCRI and is exploring mechanisms of cachexia in cancer patients and is looking at a cytokine called GDF15. There’s two Ab against this cytokine (one against the ligand, the other against the receptor) that’s in clinical trial for cachexia. We’re testing the Pfizer antibody in our mouse model. He is now interested in exploring whether circulating levels of GDF15 can serve as a biomarker in kidney disease as we think it can in cancer cachexia. This could also be a marker of rejection in kidney transplant patients as there there’s a high level of inflammation, you’ll find elevated levels of GDF15.
Dieter Haemmerich, Ph.D.
Basic Science Research - Liposomes have been employed as cancer therapy clinically since the 1990s, with the primary benefit of reduced toxicity but no appreciable efficacy improvement. Thermosensitive liposomes (TSLs) are specifically formulated such that they release the encapsulated drug when exposed to hyperthermic temperatures in the fever range (~40-42°C) and have been investigated as cancer therapy for several decades, with first clinical trials initiated in the last decade. Combined with localized hyperthermia, TSLs allow precise drug delivery to a targeted region. Typically, the targeted tissue is exposed to localized hyperthermia facilitated by an image-guided hyperthermia device. Thus, TSLs enable image-guided drug delivery where drug is delivered to a tissue region identified by medical imaging. This therapy has a lot of potential for rejection in organ transplantation. Currently, when a patient has rejection of the graft, they get systemic anticoagulation which has systemic side effects including infections. This therapy would allow direct delivery of medication to the graft without the dangerous side effects.
