40% paediatric kidney failure cases congenital

Up to 40% of kidney failure cases among children are due to congenital deformities of the urinary tract, a senior doctor of Hamad Medical Corporation has said. “Kidney failure among children has different causes than kidney failure among adults. Congenital deformities of the urinary tract, such as urinary obstruction, represent 40% of these causes among children,” senior nephrology consultant Dr Bajes Hamad explained.Kidney failure among children may also be attributed to some other medical conditions, such as nephrosis, particularly the type that does not respond to treatment and may eventually lead to kidney fibrosis.  Genetic diseases resulting from consanguineous marriages, such as kidney cysts and diseases caused by lack of certain enzymes with symptoms of deposition of salts in the kidney, may also be responsible for paediatric kidney failure, he said. “If the child develops a case of complete kidney failure, we would use one of the two available types of dialysis treatments, either the hemodialysis, which is more commonly used for treating kidney failure in adults, or the peritoneal dialysis. We usually do not resort to hemodialysis when treating children, as it causes problems when inserting the catheter into the vein to draw blood,” Dr Hamad said.  He also stressed the importance of being vigilant for symptoms that may indicate kidney failure, such as rapid breathing, malnutrition, pallor, severe anemia, bad breath or sweat (urea smell), high blood pressure or urination disorders. Dr Hamad said the opening of a paediatric kidney dialysis unit at Hamad General Hospital was met with relief and gratitude by the families of children who are patients.“The establishment of the unit, with its three dialysis stations, has helped the families and has also enabled us to care for more children with our services. The unit currently has 15 patients with kidney failure. Ten of these children are on peritoneal dialysis, while the other five children are provided with hemodialysis services. The healthcare team includes six consultants and specialists,” Dr Hamad added.Lying in his bed at the paediatric dialysis unit, 10-year-old Mohamed spends four consecutive hours, four times a week, connected to a dialysis machine. Mohamed, one of the 15 children who are on dialysis at the unit, arrived in Doha six months ago, but had begun dialysis treatment four years ago in his home country, Iran.          Mohamed’s mother, Samanah said urinary retention first became a problem for her son when he was seven months old. This impacted his kidney functions and led to complete kidney failure. The boy has undergone a bladder surgery to fix the urethra, the urinary tract, and is currently awaiting leg surgery to help him walk properly.  Samanah described her son as a bright lad, being one of the best students in his class, who is planning to become a paediatric nephrologist so that he can help other children.Another patient, Jolie, a four-year-old girl with a very rare medical condition, sits on a bed in the room next to Mohamed. Her mother, Dr Salwa, said Jolie’s condition was first detected during a pregnancy ultrasound scan that showed kidney hypertrophy, enlargement in the kidney, due to a genetic disorder.