News and Articles

When Should Your Child See a Cardiologist?
Your pediatrician or family doctor may refer your child to see a pediatric cardiologist for many different reasons. Pediatric cardiologists have special training in diagnosing and treating congenital heart defects and other problems affecting the heart in infants, children, and adolescents.

How to Keep Your Kids Safe in the Sporting Life
While preventing injuries in active kids is almost impossible, William E. Garrett Jr., MD, PhD, orthopaedic surgeon and team physician for the Duke and U.S. national soccer teams, offers some advice for keeping mishaps to a minimum.

Experimental Ear Surgery Proves Effective for Some
Sophia Crist's procedure at Duke Children's Hospital used a carbon dioxide laser beam to smooth a bubble of tissue on her ear drum. The procedure lasted less than 10 minutes. When she awoke, her hearing was immediately better, and she had little pain.

Rice Gets First Sherman Surgery Professorship
Henry E. Rice, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric General Surgery and Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, has been named the first recipient of the Paul H. Sherman, MD, Associate Professorship in the Department of Surgery.

Powerball Winners Make a Difference
Paul and Sue Rosenau have donated an initial $250,000 to Duke Medicine to establish the Legacy of Angels Fund in their granddaughter's honor. It supports the ground-breaking research of Duke's Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, a world leader in the use of umbilical cord transplantation from unrelated donors to combat disease, including Krabbe disease.

Find Us on Facebook
Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center is on Facebook. Become a fan of our page and connect with others who are proud of the great work Duke Medicine does.

OT in the NICU
Occupational Therapists in the NICU helps protect fragile babies from excessive or inappropriate sensory aspects of the environment, and assists the family in fostering optimal development for their baby. 

Bacterial Infection or Virus?
Dr. Betty Staples, one of our primary care physicians and director of Duke's Pediatric Residency Program gives us some advice on how to tell the difference between these two types of infection.

Surgeons Repair Fetus' Heart
Guided by sophisticated imaging machines, doctors at Duke University Medical Center performed a tricky intervention on a fetus' heart, which was critically malformed and lacked proper channels for blood flow. 

Studies Show Children Can Complete Treatment for Peanut Allergies and Achieve Long-Term Tolerance
A carefully administered daily dose of peanuts has been so successful as a therapy for peanut allergies that a select group of children is now off treatment and eating peanuts daily, report doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Scoliosis
Dr. Robert Fitch, an orthopaedic surgeon at Duke, gives us insight into scoliosis and what steps may need to be taken.

A Remarkable Young Man
Like many children, Kyle Street traveled across the country to seek treatment at Duke Eye Center. Street, from northern Indiana, came to Durham nine years ago, at age 6, for treatment of glaucoma.

A Rare Challenge, A Rare Chance
Jeffrey Marcus, M.D., surgical director of Duke Children’s Hospital, talks about a baby born with omphalocele, a condition in which a baby’s organs are outside of their body, who recently underwent successful corrective surgery.

Care for Kids' Hearts
Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center opened the state’s first pediatric intensive care unit (PCICU) tailored to the special needs of young cardiac patients on January 7, 2009.

Young Patients Stay Connected
Patients at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center will have an easier time staying connected to the outside world via the Internet , thanks to Bringing the Outside World Inside (BOWI) Foundation.

What's the Fuss About Ear Infections?
Dr. Martha Snyder, a primary care pediatrician at Duke, explains what ear infections are and how they happen.

Brooding Teen Girls
Teenage girls actually brood more than their male counterparts, with negative psychological consequences. A recent study found that girls are more likely to ruminate on negative events, making them more vulnerable to depression in adolescence than boys.

Smart Ways to Manage Kids' Food Allergies
Wesley Burks, MD, Chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Duke University, is quoted in this U.S. News & World Report blog entry about the increasing number food allergies among children. “You want to have a healthy respect for the disease,” he said. “But you don’t need to let it control your family’s lives, either.”

Childhood Vaccination Schedules
Emmanuel (Chip) B. Walter, MD, MPH, describes when and why your child should get vaccinations.

Vaccines and Autism
Samuel L. Katz, MD, co-creator of the measles vaccine and Chairman Emeritus of Pediatrics discusses the truth about the relationship between vaccinations and autism.

Back to School
For approximately 24 million children across the country, the school day begins and ends with a ride on the bus. Statistics show that traveling to school by bus is one of the safest modes of transportation.

Teen Acne Treatments
Acne affects more than 85 percent of teenagers. Some cases require a specialist, but many can be treated by a primary care physician.

Go Dancin' For Duke Children's Hospital
Come out and dance your cares away with the South Wing Band on Saturday, August 9, at "Dancing for the Duke Kids," a benefit concert to help the Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center.

Sting-Free Summer Days
Mosquitoes, ticks and other insects are more than just pests; they can carry dangerous diseases such as Lyme disease and the West Nile virus.

Bike Safety
Bike riding is a great way to get exercise and fresh air and share time as a family. But before you and the kids rush out and start pedaling, there's an important factor that you need to consider--safety.

Pediatric Intensive Care
The workings of a hospital can be a bit of a mystery to patients. Parents particularly are interested about what's going on when their child is admitted into an intensive care unit.

Tips for Healthy Summer Eating
As kids kick back for summer, Duke experts provide parents with the facts about nutritional obstacles that can derail their best efforts.

U.S. News Ranks Duke Children's Among Nation's Best
U.S. News & World Report once again recognized Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center as one of the nation's top children's hospitals.

When to Worry About Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
It is not uncommon for a young child to have a urinary tract infection (UTI). Parents frequently ask how much of a problem this will be for their child in the future.

Big Packs On Little Backs
Like little sherpas, each school children dutifully tote their backpacks, stuffed with books and papers and a student's daily necessities.

Make It a Safe Summer
Warm weather has arrived--get the safety tips and resources you need to keep your kids safe this summer.

Chest Pain in Children and Adolescents
Chest pain is a common complaint in children and adolescents. Chest pain is often perceived as “heart pain” both to children and their parents, and it can cause a lot of emotional and physical upset. However, chest pain in children is very rarely due to a heart problem and most often arises from a less worrisome source.

Celebrating Our Nurses
National Nurses Week is from May 6th through the 12th, and nurses across the country are being honored for their countless contributions to patients every day.

Healthy Lifestyles Program: The Answer to Childhood Obesity
Dr. Sarah Armstrong is a pediatrician at Duke Children's who is the leader of Duke’s Healthy Lifestyles Program. The program tries to educate the child and family about a new way of coping in this time of plenty. It is a way to find the answer to “what can we do to help our child who is overweight?”

Mending Hearts
Every year in the United States, some 40,000 babies are born with congenital heart defects. Today, advances in care are helping patients of any age to not just survive--but thrive.

New Findings on Teens and Antidepressant Use
A major Duke-led study has shed new light on the best way to help the estimated 2 million American teenagers suffering from depression -- and more such guidance is on the way.

March is Child Life Month
Recognizing that being hospitalized can be frightening to children, the Child Life Program at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center creates an environment designed to ease children's fears and provide the important emotional and social care to make the hospital experience as pleasant as possible for both the child and the family.

Protecting What's Precious
Millions of young lives have been saved in large part by the pioneering work of Samuel Katz and Catherine Wilfert. Now the longtime Duke pediatricians have created a legacy to help save billions of young lives still at risk around the world.

Create a CarePage
A child’s hospitalization can be an emotional and stressful time for families. Communicating the latest news with friends and relatives can mean time, energy and expense.