CHOP and Vanderbilt Researchers to Lead $7.37 Million Kidney Stone Research Project

Grant will lead to the creation of USDHub, a novel research tool bringing together research and clinical data from hundreds of thousands of kidney stone patients of all ages

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center were awarded a $7.37 million RC2 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a five-year multisite project across the U.S. focused on kidney stone disease research.

Led by CHOP pediatric urologist, Gregory Tasian, MD, MSc, MSCE and Vanderbilt University Medical Center urologist, Ryan Hsi, MD, the goal of this initiative is to establish a new research tool called the Urinary Stone Disease Hub (USDHub), which will aggregate data from across healthcare systems and research networks into one comprehensive platform drawing data from a cohort of more than 230,000 patients suffering from kidney stone disease.

Urinary stone disease is a painful condition that can cause a substantial amount of suffering for affected patients. The prevalence of kidney stones is about 11% in Americans, and kidney stones send more than half a million patients to the emergency room each year, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Although urinary and kidney stones are traditionally thought of as an adult diagnosis, kidney stones in children are becoming more common, and CHOP clinicians encounter them daily. To address the unique needs of children with kidney stones, CHOP created the Pediatric Kidney Stone Center, a multidisciplinary program within its Divisions of Urology and Nephrology that is solely dedicated to the dietary, medical, and surgical management of kidney stones.

There have been few advancements in the diagnosis and management of urinary stone disease, partly due to a lack of datasets that contain clinically important information about individuals with urinary stone disease across the lifespan. To help address these challenges, USDHub will draw from medical expertise across adult and pediatric urology and nephrology and combine informatics and AI to establish a novel data resource that includes clinically important information from CT images, clinical notes, stone composition, and 24-hour urine labs, which are not available in existing research databases.

"We see this painful condition more frequently now, but strong evidence to support decisions about treating children is lacking because urinary stone disease was once rare," said Tasian, who holds the Cheers for CHOP Chair in Clinical Epidemiology of Pediatric Urological Disease. "Opportunities exist both for expanding the evidence base around the management of kidney and urinary stones and for improving the research process itself."

In addition to the work being led by Drs. Tasian at CHOP and Hsi at Vanderbilt, USDHub will involve seven other sites involved are part of the STAR and PEDSnet, which are two PCORnet clinical research networks that have standardized electronic health record data. In addition to CHOP and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USDHub sites include University of North Carolina, Medical University of South Carolina, Duke University, Texas Children's Hospital, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

"USDHub will be a collaborative effort to synergize efforts and expertise across adult and pediatric stone disease, and to engage patients and caregivers in the design process to ensure that our sustainable data access model meets their needs," Tasian said. "This program will finally provide us with longitudinal data and eliminate our reliance on single-center data sources that segregate pediatric and adult patients. We see the potential to significantly accelerate and improve urinary stone disease research."

This research is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant 1RC2DK140865-01).

About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: 
A non-profit, charitable organization, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, the hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. The institution has a well-established history of providing advanced pediatric care close to home through its CHOP Care Network, which includes more than 50 primary care practices, specialty care and surgical centers, urgent care centers, and community hospital alliances throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the Middleman Family Pavilion and its dedicated pediatric emergency department in King of Prussia. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought Children's Hospital of Philadelphia recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit https://www.chop.edu. 

Contact: Kaila Revello
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
(610) 457-5916
[email protected]

SOURCE Children's Hospital of Philadelphia