Pre-Surgery and Diagnostic Instructions

When prepping for a pre-surgical procedure or diagnostic examination at Children's Hospital Los Angles, it is crucial that your child not eat within windows close to the scheduled appointment. Below you can find instructions for pre- and post-procedure that you can review from comfort of your own home. If you have any questions regarding your test or procedure, please feel free to contact us directly.

Before and After a Urology Procedure

Healthy Babies Who Take a Bottle

  • Do not feed your baby any milk, formula or cereal after midnight the night before surgery, or in the morning after your baby wakes up.
  • You may feed your baby water, apple juice or Pedialyte up to three hours before your arrival to the hospital.

Healthy Babies Who are Breastfed

  • You may breastfeed your baby, or provide water, apple juice or Pedialyte up to three hours before your arrival at the hospital.

Healthy Children

  • Healthy children may eat normally until midnight the night before surgery.
  • Do not allow the child to have any milk, liquids, (except for those listed below) after midnight (12 a.m.) the night before or in the morning when he/she wakes up.
  • If you your child wakes up during the night, water, apple juice or 7-Up may be given as long as it is still three hours before your arrival time at the hospital.

Children Taking Medications or With Special Needs

  • Instructions
    You will receive detailed specialized instructions from your child's surgeon. Please follow all of the instructions and if any information is unclear, please discuss this with the nurse who calls you the day before surgery.
  • Medications
    When your nurse calls the day before surgery, please tell the nurse if your child is taking any medications. The nurse will tell you if these medications should be taken on the day of surgery.
  • Illnesses
    When your nurse calls the day before surgery, please tell the nurse if your child has any chronic or ongoing illnesses (examples could include asthma, hemophilia, lung disease, heart problems and more).
  • Anesthesia
    When your nurse calls the day before surgery, please tell the nurse if your child has had trouble with anesthesia in the past, or if anyone in your immediate family has had any problems with anesthesia. 

Isotope Renal Scan

An Isotope Renal Scan examination takes approximately one hour. Your child may eat prior to the examination. This examination is performed in the Nuclear Radiology at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, located in the Department of Radiology, First Floor, Main Hospital. Guest Services staff at our front desk can help with wayfinding for you upon your family's arrival. 

Intravenous Pyelogram

An Intravenous Pyelogram examination takes approximately 15 minutes. Below are instructions about how close to the examination your child may eat.

  • Children one year of age or older
    Your child may not have anything to eat or drink four hours prior to the appointment.
  • Children under one year of age
    Your child may not have anything to eat or drink two hours prior to the appointment. 

Ultrasound

An ultrasound examination takes approximately 15 minutes. Your child may eat prior to this examination. 

Voiding Cystourethrogram (for girls)

A voiding cystourethrogram (also known as a VCUG) examination takes approximately 15 minutes. Your child may eat prior to this test.

This is a test done in the X-Ray department so that the doctors can see your bladder, and the tube leading from your bladder to the outside (your urethra).

  • After checking in at the front desk a Tech (short for Technologist) will take you to get changed into a gown, which ties up at the back. You will also be asked to go to the bathroom to empty as much urine out of your bladder as possible (go pee-pee).
  • In the X-Ray room you will lie on a table and the tech will take an X-Ray of you with the overhead camera. The tech will then give you the area between your legs a wash and place a thin plastic tub into your urethra. If feels a bit funny and uncomfortable, but doesn't hurt you.
  • The doctor or tech will then remove the tube so that you can go to the bathroom and empty your bladder (go pee-pee) again.
  • When you've finished in the bathroom, you must go straight back to the X-Ray room where the Tech. will take one last picture of your bladder without the contrast.
  • Once the films have been checked, you will get changed back into your clothes, and be able to go home. 

X-Ray

An X-Ray examination takes approximately 15 minutes. Your child may eat prior to this test.

  • An X-Ray is a photograph of the inside of your body, and you don't feel a thing.

First you have to check in at the reception desk so that they can label your X-Rays correctly.

  • The "Tech" (short for Radiologic Technologist) will then take you to a special room to take your X-Ray.
  • Some children might have to change into a gown, which ties up the back so that buttons, zipper and things in their pockets don't get into the X-Ray picture.
  • For some X-Rays, you stand very close to a screen which is in front of the X-Ray machine and for other X-Rays, you have to lie on a table under the X-Ray machine. You must be very still when the Tech tells you to lie still. If you move, the X-ray picture will be blurry, and the Radiologist (the Doctor who looks at your X-Ray pictures) won't be able to see if everything is alright.