Kidney Care

Take care of your kidneys with help from St. Bernards Healthcare’s nephrologists—doctors who specialize in these organs that filter your blood. Whether you need a single treatment or ongoing dialysis, you can look forward to personal care from our experts.

Conditions We Treat

Your doctor may refer you to a nephrologist at St. Bernards Clopton Clinic for a diagnosis or treatment of:

• Acute kidney injury – Sudden episode of kidney failure or damage that happens within a few hours or days
• Chronic kidney disease – Ongoing problem in which the kidneys gradually lose their ability to filter blood
• Electrolyte imbalance – Too much or too little potassium, sodium, calcium or other minerals in your body
• End-stage kidney disease – Failure of the kidneys to do their job
• Glomerular disease – Condition that affects how the kidney filters blood and may lead to protein or blood in the urine
• High blood pressure, anemia, bone disease and other health problems resulting from kidney disease
• Kidney stones – Painful, hard clumps in the urinary tract that nephrologists may work with urologists to treat

If you have kidney disease along with diabetes, heart disease or another chronic condition, we’ll help make sure you receive all the services you need for better health.

Services & Treatments

To learn more about your condition, your nephrologist may order a biopsy. This procedure takes a tiny sample of tissue from your kidney for examination in a lab. Usually, it’s done under ultrasound guidance so a health professional can see the right place to take the tissue sample.

To treat a kidney problem, your doctor may prescribe medications, lifestyle changes or dialysis—a way to filter your blood when your kidneys can’t do so. Dialysis most often takes place at home or a St. Bernards Dialysis Center. But St. Bernards Medical Center also provides a gentle type of dialysis called continuous renal replacement therapy. You may receive this in the intensive care unit after an acute kidney injury.

Transplant Pre-Op & Post-Op Care

St. Bernards Healthcare doesn’t perform kidney transplants, but your preoperative tests and certain follow-up appointments may take place in Jonesboro. That means you can stay closer to home for much of your care.