What is a Pediatric Urologist?
If your child has an illness or disease of the genitals or urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder), a pediatric urologist has the experience and qualifications to treat your child.
What Kind of Training Do Pediatric Urologists Have?
Pediatric urologists are medical doctors who have had
• At least 4 years of medical school
• One year of surgical internship
• At least 3 additional years of residency training in general urology
• At least 1 additional year of fellowship training in pediatric urology
A pediatric urologist must devote a minimum of 50% of his or her practice to the urologic problems of infants, children, and adolescents.
What Types of Treatments Do Pediatric Urologists Provide?
Pediatric urologists are surgeons who can diagnose, treat, and manage children’s urinary and genital problems. Pediatric urologists generally provide the following services:
• Evaluation and management of voiding disorders, vesicoureteral reflux, and urinary tract infections that require surgery
• Surgical reconstruction of the urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, and bladder) including genital abnormalities, hypospadias, and intersex conditions
• Surgery for groin conditions in childhood and adolescence (undescended testes, hydrocele/hernia, varicocele).
Pediatric urology is the diagnosis and treatment of congenital (i.e., present at birth) and acquired urological conditions and diseases in children. Pediatric urologists treat conditions of the male reproductive tract (e.g., undescended testicle) and the male and female urinary tracts (e.g., urinary tract infection).
The urinary tract consists of the organs that filter the blood and form urine (kidneys), the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys (ureters), the organ that stores urine (bladder), and the tube that carries urine from the bladder and removes it from the body (urethra).
The most common condition treated by pediatric urologists is urinary tract infection (UTI).
Other conditions include the following:
• Abnormally located urethral opening (hypospadias)
• Backup of urine from the bladder into the ureter (vesicoureteral reflux [VUR])
• Bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis)
• Distention of the kidney in utero (antenatal hydronephrosis)
• Ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJ obstruction; may cause kidney damage)
