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.
Patients are the centre and the core of our system. We are professionals committed to quality care and our organizational structure breaks down the traditional boundaries between departments and professional groups, with an exclusive model of knowledge areas.
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.
Parkinson's disease is a dysfunction of the basal ganglia caused by degeneration of the cells that produce dopamine in the substantia nigra.
It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system that affects the parts of the brain involved in controlling and coordinating movement, muscle tone and posture.
The prevalence of Parkinson’s in Catalonia is 229 in every 100,000 people.
This is focused on empowering patients and their carers to achieve behavioural changes within their own control and to motivate them to continue treatment long term. It centres on reducing medication and gaining quality of movement. The main goal is functional independence for the individual and general physical condition from the onset of the disease. It is all geared towards minimising secondary complications and the risk of falls.
There are a growing number of studies emphasising that aerobic activity may have a neuro-protective effect. Likewise, during treatment, preventing inactivity, falling and fear of getting around or falling is stressed.
Neuromuscular disease is a chronic illness that results in serious disability, loss of independence, and with significant psychosocial consequences. Respiratory alterations are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with neuromuscular diseases. They are significantly affected by the evolution of the disease and are the reason for multiple hospital admissions where the patient’s life is seriously endangered.
The main causes of respiratory impairment are hypoventilation due to weak inspiratory muscles and a lack of ability to cough due to weak expiratory muscles. Ventilatory support via non-invasive mechanical ventilation or tracheotomy can prevent or reverse ventilatory failure in these patients.
The loss of expiratory strength means that patients are unable to expel bronchial secretions. If the bulbar muscles are also affected and patients run the risk of inhaling saliva, the contents of the mouth or food, this can induce multiple respiratory infections, pneumonia and atelectasis which results in obstruction of the airway and seriously endangers the patient's life.
The combination of non-invasive mechanical ventilation to assist coughing decreases morbidity and hospital admissions for these patients.
There are currently around 60,000 people with the condition in Spain.
In the Cardiorespiratory Rehabilitation Unit, we monitor maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure (MIP and MEP) and peak expiratory flow (PEF), also known as peak cough flow (PCF) and carry out spirometry.
Treatment goals are focused on controlling the evolution of the ventilatory failure and avoiding or improving episodes of respiratory failure. To achieve these objectives, manual techniques or equipment have to be used. These are techniques to encourage pulmonary expansion, manually assist coughing, and others.
One very important objective is to train the main carer in physiotherapy techniques in order to avoid possible complications in the respiratory system.
Anticoagulants are the treatment of choice for venous thromboembolic disease. They are also used in patients with a heart arrhythmia or heart condition that predisposes them to having a systemic embolism (formation of a clot or thrombus that travels from the heart to any blood vessel in the body) or from the heart to the veins in the brain causing a stroke.
Anticoagulants are medication that modify blood clotting so that a thrombus or clot does not form inside the blood vessels. The main effect is to slow the blood’s clotting time.
There are different types of anticoagulants: injectable or oral.
Low molecular weight or unfractionated heparin. Should be started at therapeutic doses as soon as thrombosis is suspected, even before the diagnosis is confirmed, or as prophylaxis (prevention), at prophylactic doses, when the person has one or more risk factors that could trigger a venous thromboembolism (such as hip or knee replacement surgery). They are administered at fixed doses according to the patient’s weight, the type of thrombosis being treated or risk factor being controlled.
They are used as maintenance therapy when oral anticoagulants are contraindicated (e.g. pregnancy) or have been ineffective.
They are used as maintenance treatment (longer use) and are given on confirmation of the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. There are two types of oral anticoagulants: vitamin K antagonists and direct-acting.
The anticoagulant treatment is controlled with blood tests or capillary blood tests (by pricking the patient's finger). Monitoring of patients on anticoagulant treatment is done by haematology and haemotherapy specialists.
Although there is no treatment to cure chronic fatigue syndrome, a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach can help to improve patients’ quality of life. The aim is to reduce the symptoms of the condition and the chronic problems associated with it in order to overcome possible limitation in daily life.
A multidisciplinary therapeutic approach for patients with CFS should be based on four key elements:
Although a migraine cannot be cured, proper treatment can alleviate pain and prevent future occurrences.
Migraines can be alleviated with:
In the first group, there are anti-inflammatory drugs and triptans. Preventive treatment is indicated when migraines are very common or do not respond adequately to symptomatic treatment.
The choice between symptomatic and preventative treatment must be taken by a doctor. It is very important to avoid self-medication, to prevent the onset of chronic daily headaches, which is triggered by abuse of analgesic medication. Prescription-free drugs that are used frequently or in large doses can cause other problems.
The Neurology Department treats neurological patients, both in primary care centres and at our renowned hospital centre. We have a specialist stroke area (strokes with cerebral blood flow disorders) to treat patients in the acute phase.
The Neurology Department at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital is made up of five specialised units: the Neurovascular Unit, the Dementia Unit, the Epilepsy Unit, the Neuromuscular Unit and the Cephalea and Neurological Pain Unit.
We offer patients all the latest neurology resources, such as emergency neurological care by our expert on-call neurologists. We are home to super-specialist neurology units. We are responsible for quality in the neurological care provided, not only in the hospital, but throughout the entire health area where we are a reference centre.
The Neurology Teaching Unit at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital is provided by the Neurology Department with participation from Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Psychiatry, Neurosurgery, Neurophysiology, Neuroradiology, Paediatrics, and A&E.
Neurology training itinerary
Healthcare activity in neurology combines writing medical histories, diagnostic data collection, correct use of complementary exploratory procedures, and accurate clinical and aetiologic diagnosis, as well as choosing appropriate palliative treatments. We also emphasise the role of the relationship between resident doctors and patients in the basic areas of Neurology.
A large number of medical conditions and neurological illnesses can result in critical emergency situations, such as strokes and lupus. With this in mind, from the second year the duty shifts in neurological emergencies become a key aspect of residents’ work, and are always carried out under supervision. Neurologists are also required to carry out a rotation in neurological outpatient care.
Research studies are part of the practical work that neurologists must deepen and develop, with particular emphasis on ethical competence when carrying out research.
Neuroscience research should be done under supervision of a tutor , and requires solid training in scientific methodology as well as in bioethics and scientific communication.
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