Pediatric Urology
Overview
We rank among the best children's hospitals in the U.S. in pediatric urology, according to U.S. News & World Report. With extensive training and experience, we focus our care on the special needs of children and their parents − even on potentially sensitive and embarrassing subjects related to genitalia and voiding problems.
We have one focus: kids
If your child has an illness or disease of the genitals or urinary tract, we have the training and experience to diagnose, treat and manage your child's care. We also know how to examine and treat children in a way that makes them relaxed and cooperative.
Our services include:
- 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 disorders of sex development
- Surgery for groin conditions in childhood and adolescence, such as undescended testes, hydrocele/hernia and varicocele
- Evaluation and surgical management of kidney stone disease
- Surgical management of tumors and malignancies of the kidney, bladder and testis
- Evaluation and management of urological tract problems identified before birth
- Evaluation and management of urinary tract problems associated with neurological conditions like spina bifida
We also use urodynamic tests to show how well the bladder and sphincter muscles work and help explain symptoms such as incontinence, frequent urination, problems starting a urine stream, painful urination, problems emptying the bladder completely, and recurrent urinary tract infections.
Locations/Contact Us
Contact Urology
Akron Children's Hospital
Considine Professional Building
215 W. Bowery St.
Suite 3500
Level 3
Akron, Ohio 44308
Fax: 330-376-2980
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Akron Children's Hospital Specialty Care
6505 Market St., Building A
Boardman, Ohio 44512
Fax: 330-729-1144
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Akron Children's Health Center
1029 S. Trimble Road
Mansfield, Ohio 44907
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Akron Children's Hospital Specialty Care
3443 Medina Road, Door 1 (Suite 108)
Medina, Ohio 44256
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Akron Children's Health Center, North Canton
6076 Whipple Ave. NW
North Canton, Ohio 44720
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Akron Children's Hospital Specialty Care
Fisher-Titus Medical Center
282 Benedict Ave.
Norwalk, Ohio 44857
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Akron Children's Hospital Specialty Care
8054 Darrow Road, Suite 3
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087
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Akron Children's Health Center, Warren
The Market Place
5000 East Market Street
Suite 29
Warren, Ohio 44484
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Our Doctors/Providers
Director, Pediatric Urology; Pediatric Urologist
Curtis Clark, MD
Pediatric Urologist
Ruth Youssefi, APRN-CNP
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
Treatment and Testing
Biofeedback Program for Bedwetting
Biofeedback is a method to help children learn how to control parts of their body that aren’t usually thought to be under conscious control. During biofeedback a computer is used to measure, record and display (or feed back) information about a body process. The purpose of biofeedback is to help children better understand how the body works and how to control it in healthier ways.
Biofeedback is a way to treat and manage daytime wetting, urinary tract infections and reflux (backward flow of urine from the bladder into the kidneys) in children. In pediatric urology biofeedback, children are taught to retrain the pelvic floor muscles. The pelvic floor muscles help the bladder store and empty urine. When the muscles are tight, the bladder stores urine without leaking. When the muscles are relaxed, the bladder can empty. Children who have discoordinated voiding tend to have more tension in their pelvic floor muscles. They have trained their pelvic floor muscles to hold and NOT to relax, causing them to hold urine longer and not to empty their bladder completely. Biofeedback is used to teach children how to relax their pelvic floor so their bladder can empty completely.
During a biofeedback session, stickers are placed on your child’s belly and buttocks. These stickers have wires connected to a computer. The wires send signals to the computer telling it how well the pelvic floor muscles are squeezing and relaxing. This information is turned into picture and sound messages the child can hear and see on the computer. By hearing and seeing these messages, children can know exactly what their muscles are doing. If they change what their muscles are doing, the feedback on the computer will also change. These exercises help children learn to control his or her pelvic floor muscles, even when they are not hooked up to the computer. The overall goal is to improve the child’s ability to store urine and empty his or her bladder more effectively.
Biofeedback is offered as a treatment option for:
- Children who “strain” to void
- Children who do not empty their bladder completely
- Children with recurrent urinary tract infections
- Children who void with a start-stop-start pattern
- Children who void with a prolonged flow without much “force”
- Ultrasound: Renal (Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder)
- X-Ray Exam: Voiding Cystourethrogram (VCUG)
- Ultrasound: Scrotum
- X-Ray Exam: Abdomen
Videos & Educational Resources
- A to Z: Hydrocele
- A to Z: Varicocele (Scrotal Varices)
- Hernias
- A to Z: Epididymitis
- A to Z: Testicular Torsion
- A to Z: Undescended Testicle
- A to Z: Phimosis
- A to Z: Meatal Stenosis
- A to Z: Hypospadias
- A to Z: Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR)
- A to Z: Ureteropelvic (UP) Junction Obstruction
- A to Z: Hydronephrosis
- A to Z: Neurogenic Bladder
- A to Z: Ectopic Ureter
- A to Z: Kidney Stones
- A to Z: Ureterocele
- A to Z: Myelomeningocele
- Kidney Diseases in Childhood
