WebsEdge/Health

The Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program at Miami Transplant Institute program has performed over 400 pediatric kidney transplants starting nearly 4 decades ago. The multi-disciplinary team includes pediatric transplant nephrologists, surgeons, and individuals from pharmacy, nursing/coordinators, and social workers. As an academic center the program has trained over 100 surgical transplant fellows and residents, pediatric nephrology fellows, residents and medical students. Recently they performed the largest volume of living and deceased donor kidney transplants in Florida and are ranked within the top five programs in the country. Importantly their outcomes (one month, one year and three year KT survival) are consistently above the national average. Their patient population has a number of unique features. The demographics are quite diverse including Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic children. Congenital anomalies, often with complex urological features, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis are the most common causes of pediatric end stage renal disease. The program has a particular interest in studying focal segmental glomerulosclerosis with a team of physician-scientists involved in innovative translational research supported by private foundations and by the National Institute of Health. The Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program performs combined organ transplants, for example liver and kidney as well as heart and kidney transplants together. They have an active living donor program that also includes paired organ donation swaps. For patients who are highly sensitized, they offer desensitization protocols. Importantly, for their adolescent population, they have developed tools to assess and improve adherence. Ultimately their dedicated team brings many years of experience and expertise to create a special pediatric kidney transplant program devoted to compassionate patient care, clinical and basic science research and teaching.