Bladder Exstrophy
When your newborn is diagnosed with bladder exstrophy, it can be a time great anxiety and concern. You want to find the very best medical care possible for your child. Cook Children's is an international leader in treating bladder exstrophy. With us, your child gets the most advanced and compassionate care possible, from specialists who are among the top experts in the world in understanding and treating the condition.
Bladder exstrophy is a rare congenital condition where a child is born with the bladder partially or completely outside of the abdomen wall. Treatment often will involve two or more reconstructive surgeries to help your child. Those surgeries are complicated, and results are best when the surgeon and team have extensive expertise in treating this condition. That's why bladder exstrophy patients and their families from around the world come to Cook Children's for treatment.
A team for you
The Cook Children's Pediatric Urology team includes surgeons, urologists, specialists from other departments, nurses, behavioral health specialists and the families of children with exstrophy. The team promotes and organizes peer support programming so families have a local community to enhance their experience. All of them have deep experience treating children with bladder exstrophy and all of them work together to provide the extraordinary care and support that you and your child deserve.

A book for children with bladder exstrophy
A Story About You ... and Your Special Bladder was written for children with bladder exstrophy to help them understand their physical differences. This book provides a comfortable starting point for the caregiver and child to begin discussing bladder exstrophy. Cook Children's collaborated with the Association for the Bladder Exstrophy Community for the rewriting, illustrating and printing of this book.
If you are interested in having a copy, please contact Emily Haddad, LCSW, Director of Patient and Family Support at Emily.Haddad@cookchildrens.org or 682-303-0388.
We're here to help.
If your child has been diagnosed, you probably have lots of questions. We can help. If you would like to schedule an appointment, refer a patient or speak to our staff, please call our offices.