Urology

Urology is all about looking after problems with the kidneys, ureters, bladder and genitals. On this page you will find lots of information about our team, how we care for children and young people, and the investigations and procedures we carry out at Sheffield Children’s.

What do we do in Urology?

We provide specialist care for children and young people both in the hospital and at home. Our patients might come from Sheffield, the Yorkshire and Humber region or nationally.

As a team we aim to continually improve the quality of urology care in children, using international learning and studies to guide our care.

In the community we support children and young people who have to catheterise – which means using a tube to drain the bladder – to help provide a holistic service. 

We also provide education and training to families and other healthcare professionals. As a team we work closely with the Continence team based at Centenary House and their products assessment service.

Who makes up the team?

Our Urology team is a mix of surgeons, doctors, nurses, support workers and administration staff. You can find out more about each of us on our team page.

Clinics run by the Urology team

The Urology team offers a range of clinics.

Our nurse clinics are particularly useful for issues of wetting, they are experts in all the tips and tricks to help stay dry. We also have a clinic where we follow children and young people who have – or might have – kidney problems with the Nephrology team. The Nephrology team look after the filtering part of the kidney, whilst we make sure the pee drains.

The Acquired Spinal Injury clinic looks after patients who have bladder problems because of an injury to the spine. We have a combined spinal clinic which looks after children who were born with spinal problems.

The team cares for patients up to the age of 16, when we help introduce you to the teams who will continue to look after young people as they get older. This means they can have confidence in the care they will continue to receive.

Outpatient (OPD) tests

This means tests which will only require a day trip to hospital:

• NIBs (Non-invasive bladder studies)
• Urodynamics – These are a group of tests used to check the function of your bladder and urethra.
• MCUG scan – A micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG) is a scan that shows how well your child’s bladder works
• DMSA scan – A dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA scan) assesses the function and location of the kidneys
• MAG3 renogram – Like a DMSA scan, this helps check how well the kidneys are working
• Cystoscopy – a camera test to see what is going on inside the urethra and bladder

Surgeries

Common surgeries performed by the team include:

• Circumcisions – the surgical removal of the skin covering the tip of the penis.
• Prepucioplasties – a surgical procedure sometimes performed on a child’s foreskin in order to widen it should it not retract (pull back).
• Hypospadias surgery – surgery to correct when a urethra does not open from its usual place.
• Pyeloplasty – an operation to remove a blockage in one of the ureters.
• STING for vesicoureteric reflux (VR) – to correct VR; when pee moves backward from the bladder to the kidneys.
• Reimplantation – surgery to change the position of ureters where they enter the bladder wall.
• Mitrofanoff – creates a new tube on a patient’s belly through which a child can pee by using a catheter
• Augment – an operation performed to increase the size of the bladder.
• Nephrectomy – surgical procedure to remove either part or all of the kidney

Our specialist areas

• Minimal access (keyhole) surgery for children with stones in their kidneys, ureters and bladders.
• Work with the gynaecologists to help girls with problems of the reproductive tract.
• Differences of sex development (DSD) – DSD is the general name for a group of conditions in which the genitals and/or reproductive organs develop differently to expected.

Doctors will now use the term DSD but you may also hear the term ‘intersex’ used by some groups instead.

Urology patient information leaflets are available in the Resource Library