UCI Medical Center offers a variety of pediatric specialties, in the event that the infant requires surgery after birth. Many times with complicated pregnancy, the mother, especially one with a pre-existing medical condition, runs the risk of being in the intensive care unit herself. UCI Medical Center s Antoci Center for Pediatric Urology and Nephrology is equipped to diagnose and treat the full spectrum of pediatric kidney, bladder and genital system disorders. Urinary obstructions are one of the most easily detected conditions in the perinatal care phase. Perinatologists meet with the urology team to determine if it would be best for the baby to be born earlier or if the obstruction needs to be bypassed.
Tubes inserted between the bladder and amniotic sac can bypass the blockage.
The bypass allows the fetus to pass urine and avoid possible infection. Now we can diagnose 95 percent of these cases before birth. Once the baby is born, the urology team takes over, performing surgery as soon as possible to correct the problem. For these delicate surgeries, physicians at the Antoci Center often use lasers or operate laparoscopically, using several small incisions to treat conditions such as undescended testicles or hypospadias, a birth defect in which the opening of the penis is on the underside of the organ rather than at the tip. We can correct in one operation what would take other physicians multiple operations.