We are the combination of four hospitals: the General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, the Women’s Hospital and the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital. We are part of the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus: a world-leading health park where healthcare plays a crucial role.
Below we will list the departments and units that form part of Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the main diseases that we treat. We will also make recommendations based on advice backed up by scientific evidence that has been shown to be effective in guaranteeing well-being and quality of life.
Would you like to know what your stay at Vall d'Hebron will be like? Here you will find all the information.
The commitment of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital to innovation allows us to be at the forefront of medicine, providing first class care adapted to the changing needs of each patient.
The Foetal Surgery Unit is made up of physicians from various specialities, in order to provide a surgical response for those foetal pathologies that are susceptible to treatment via foetal surgery.
The Congenital Defects Committee, a multi-disciplinary group that studies diagnosed cases of congenital alterations every week, constitutes the basis from which candidate patients for prenatal surgery are selected. After the prenatal council, it is decided which patients will receive treatment.
The Foetal Surgery Unit provides a surgical response for all prenatal pathologies currently susceptible to treatment and, more specifically, it is internationally renowned for the foetoscopic treatment of neural tube defects (spina bifida), for which they have described a pioneering technique (“Two Layers” technique), with interventions in over 50 cases.
The unit's objective is to appropriately advise families, offer the best minimally-invasive treatment and provide constant support for the two patients, mother and baby, during their therapeutic process, subsequently linked to continued care for the newborn baby by other highly-complex neonatal specialities. More specifically, for neural tube defects, the hospital campus has its Spina Bifida Department which supports patients from their prenatal diagnosis to the end of their days, coordinating the various professionals from different specialities whose assistance they will need throughout their lives.
One of the Foetal Surgery group’s distinguishing features is its research activity, with various lines open in cellular therapy, surgical technique, clinical development and teaching. In addition to a number of publications and projects, this unit is particularly active in the development of theory-practical courses on foetal surgery, and has developed various simulation models, including myelomeningocele foetoscopic surgery.
The group has developed a cross-cutting Spina Bifida Research Programme which brings together various research groups at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, with the aim of making advances in the diagnosis and treatment of these patients.
Foetoscopic surgery for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (FETENDO)
Foetoscopic surgery of the amniotic bridle
Foetal surgery, open and foetoscopic, of open defects of the neural tube (mielomeningocele and myelocele)
EXIT procedure (Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment) for pathologies that may affect the airways of newborn babies (cervical tumours, lung masses, etc.)
Endoscopic and open surgery of sacrococcygeal teratomas
Surgery on lower urinary tract obstructions (LUTO)
Open surgery on lung malformations
Foetoscopic surgery on upper airway pathologies
Manrique S, Maíz N, García I, Pasqual M, Perera R, Arévalo S, Giné C, Molino JA, López M, Blanco D, de Nadal M, Carreras E. Maternal anaesthesia in open and fetoscopic surgery of foetal open spinal neural tube defects: A 6-year observational study. Eur J Anesthesiol Nov 30 2018, DOI: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000000930
Giné C, Arévalo S, Maíz N, Rodó C, Manrique S, Poca A, Molino JA, Carreras E & López M. Fetoscopic two-layer closure of open neural tube defects. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2018 Oct;52(4):452-457.
Marotta M, Fernández-Martín A, Oria M, Fontecha CG, Giné C, Martínez-Ibáñez V, Carreras E, Belfort MA, Pelizzo G, Peiró JL. Isolation, characterization, and differentiation of multipotent neural progenitor cells from human cerebrospinal fluid in fetal cystic myelomeningocele. Stem Cell Res 2017 May 15;22:33-42
Iliescas T, Rodó C, Arévalo S, Giné C, Peiró JL, Carreras E. The quantitative lung index and the prediction of survival in fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2016 Jan 11;198:145-148
Rodó C, Illescas T, Arévalo S, Pérez-Hoyos S, Carreras E. Follow-up of fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia: The quantitative lung index. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2018 Jun;225:22-25. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2018.03.036. Epub 2018 Mar 26. PubMed PMID: 29627662
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