Nephrology

The kidneys play an essential role in your body. They contribute to cardiac health (controlling blood pressure), orthopedic functionality (maintaining bones), removing bodily waste and establishing chemical balance.

If you have kidney failure, the kidneys become unable to effectively remove toxins, excess fluid and electrolytes such as potassium. As a result, build-up forms in the bloodstream, causing more severe issues.

Dialysis is a process where toxic substances or excess fluids are removed from your body. We offer both types of dialysis: hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Our nephrology teams focus on your care and a commitment to staying at the forefront of diagnostic and treatment technology. This helps our nephrology surgeons return diseased and damaged kidneys to a healthier state, leading to better outcomes for you.

Our surgeons perform:

• Nephrectomy (removal of the kidney)
• Partial nephrectomy (removal of part of the kidney)
• Pyeloplasty (surgery to repair the kidney)

You might need a nephrectomy to treat kidney cancer or kidney failure, but it could also be necessary to treat a birth defect, injury or infection.

Minimally invasive kidney surgery

Our physicians go beyond standard care for kidney health. We are trained to perform many treatments, including minimally invasive procedures, such as:

• Endourologic procedures for kidney stone disease — Using special equipment, stones are removed via natural entry points to the kidney
• Cryosurgery for kidney masses — An alternative to surgical tumor removal, small probes are used to freeze and kill abnormal cells
• Kidney transplantation — Replacing a diseased kidney with a healthy one from a donor
• Nephrectomy — Removal of all or part of the kidney

Our kidney specialists use two types of advanced technology while performing kidney surgery:

• Robot-assisted surgical tools let your surgeon control a robotic system to perform the procedure, allowing precise, delicate movements and enabling you to heal faster.
• Fluorescence technology uses an injectable dye during robotic kidney surgery. The dye is then visible when using a special camera. This enables the surgeon to better see which tissue is diseased or cancerous as well as the blood flow to tumors.

These two technologies provide several benefits to our patients compared to traditional open surgery, including:

• Less damage to healthy tissue
• Less pain
• Less scarring
• Quicker recovery and return to regular activity
• Smaller incisions

Not everyone is a candidate for robot-assisted surgery. To find out if you may be a candidate, talk to one of our nephrologists.

The majority of kidney cancers are renal cell carcinomas, which usually grow as a single tumor in the kidney. We provide complete diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitative services for kidney cancer through our partnership with Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute.