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.
Lung cancer is the general name for neoplastic lung disease in which there is the presence of tumour cells. There are different types of lung cancer, but all of them share tobacco use as a risk factor. It is usually detected by the symptoms it causes, but it can also be an incidental finding in an examination conducted for a different reason.
Lung cancer originates when a set of cancer cells proliferates and produces a local compromise in the space occupied. These cells have a tendency to spread (metastasis) to other organs and, as their biological behaviour is completely abnormal, they produce atypical neurological, dermatological or endocrine signs. There are different types of lung cancer from a cell classification perspective, which require different treatments and prognosis. Lung cancer is always a serious illness, with an overall low survival rate estimated at 20% of patients after 5 years.
Research into this disease in the last few years has led to new treatment strategies, which in some cases cause the disease to go into remission for long periods.
90% of people will have symptoms caused by local tumour growth, including non-specific respiratory symptoms such as coughing and difficulty breathing, or in some cases coughing up blood.
There can also be a wide variety of symptoms: pleural effusion (presence of fluid in the pleura), involvement of the nerve roots that pass through the chest, skin disorders and endocrine disorders because the tumour may produce products that are similar to normal hormones.
It affects both sexes, with a predominance in males. Incidence of lung cancer in women has shown a very worrying increase in the last few years. Although it can be seen in people who have never smoked, a history of smoking is almost always found.
A suspected diagnosis will be made in the clinic and imaging tests will then be conducted in the following order: Chest x-ray, CAT, PET-CT to confirm the suspicion. The types of cells involved will then be ascertained through pleural tap or bronchoscopy. Final diagnosis is always reached by confirming the presence of tumour cells, which is done by the Pathological Anatomy Department.
Lung cancer treatment must be personalised. Surgery can play its role, both in diagnosis and in treatment, as well as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and the use of biological drugs aimed at blocking certain cell receptor, which are different in each patient.
The typical tests for diagnosis are chest radiography, CAT, PET-CT, pleural aspiration/tap and bronchoscopy.
In order to prevent lung cancer, completely abstaining from tobacco use is essential. Exposure to certain environmental toxins specific to some working environments, such as arsenic, asbestos and chrome should also be avoided.
It is a cancer that develops in muscle and soft tissue. It can therefore be found in any part of the body, although most commonly in the head and neck, including the eye sockets. Despite being a rare cancer, as are all tumours in children, it is the most common cancer of the soft tissue found in childhood. This disease is more common in boys than in girls.
Although mainly found in the head and neck, it may also occur in the genitourinary system such as the bladder and prostate in boys and the vagina or uterus in girls. It may also appear in other places such as the limbs (arms and legs) and, less commonly, in the abdomen and around the genitals and anus. Symptoms vary depending on the location of the tumour.
More than half of all soft tissue sarcoma found in children are rhabdomyosarcoma. Most children are diagnosed under nine years old, but this type of cancer can appear at any age.
Different symptoms are produced depending on where tumours are located.
Malignant neoplasms are rare, but they are one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in this age group. Around 1,000 patients under 14 years of age are diagnosed with cancer every year in Spain. Rhabdomyosarcoma represents 6% of cancers in children meaning there are 60 new cases every year in Spain.
The child’s doctor will perform a very careful examination and to reach a diagnosis the doctor will request several tests, which may include:
These tests will help to determine the size and location of the tumour and whether it has spread to any other part of the body.
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a highly malignant type of tumour and must therefore be treated with a combination of therapies including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Each of these treatments is administered depending on the condition of the tumour and the age of the child.
There are currently no known measures to help prevent this type of tumour.
Radiotherapy is a type of oncology treatment that uses radiation to eliminate tumour cells from the area of the organism where it is being applied.
Radiotherapy is used to treat some, but not all, types of cancer. Sometimes it is used as the only treatment, other times, in combination with other treatments, such as surgery or chemotherapy. The objective is to reduce the size of the tumour before surgery or to destroy the tumour cells after the surgical procedure.
In order to apply this treatment, the linear accelerator and the cobalt unit are used. For the duration of the treatment, between 1 and 7 weeks, patients must come to the Hospital daily to receive it. During this time, the total dose of radiation is distributed per session. The duration and number of the sessions depends on each individual case.
Radiotherapy acts on the tumour and destroys malignant cells, preventing them from growing and reproducing. This type of treatment is based on the use of ionising radiation and is painless.
Radiotherapy treatment can cause a series of side effects that appear during the course of treatment, in the part of the body that is being treated. They are different in each person, and can be more or less intense. They are stronger if the patient is receiving chemotherapy during radiotherapy. The most frequent effects are changes to skin and tiredness, as well as nausea and vomiting, hair loss in the treated area, inflammation in the mouth, lack of saliva, difficulty in swallowing food, diarrhoea or discomfort while urinating.
Radiotherapy treatment can also cause a series of effects that appear years after treatment and can become chronic. These are infrequent, but can occur. It depends on the part of the body in where the treatment is received, the amount and duration of the radiotherapy and whether chemotherapy was also received.
Some longer-term side effects are: changes in the brain such as loss of memory or difficulty in moving, infertility, arm oedema, changes in the mouth (lack of saliva, tooth decay, bone damage) or secondary tumours.
Paediatric oncological surgery is the branch of paediatric surgery that is dedicated to the surgical treatment of paediatric oncological and haematological diseases and their complications. It is one of the basic pillars for the treatment of solid paediatric tumours.
These are illnesses that, due to their severity, complexity, and rareness, must be centralised in hospitals that are equipped with experienced multidisciplinary teams and the technology and medical experience necessary. The evolution of this unit has often gone hand-in-hand with the surgical advances achieved in solid organ transplants, which has allowed it to develop advanced techniques that now make enormously difficult cases operable.
The Radiation Oncology Department deals with the diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of cancer patients, prioritising use of radiation and associated therapies. Radiation therapy is a fundamental tool in treating tumours, either exclusively or in combination with other treatments.
At the Radiation Oncology Department, our goals are to help improve all aspects related to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, teaching and research of cancer. We are a central plank in organising care for patients with cancer, especially with regard to radiation oncology. Working in multidisciplinary teams helps improve the healing rates of our patients, and makes us a reference department across Spain.
The Radiation Oncology Department stands out for its paediatric oncology and radiosurgery care, as well as for its participation in numerous oncological clinical trials. For this reason, we receive residents from all over Spain who do rotations specifically in our units, and visits by specialists from around the world who wish to learn the most advanced techniques. We have extensive experience in continuous professional development for residents, many of whom have gone on to take up positions of responsibility in international hospitals.
Radiotherapy Oncology training itinerary
The Radiation Oncology Teaching Unit is provided by the Radiation Oncology Department, with the involvement of Haematology, Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, Radiology, Radiophysics, A&E, and Palliative Care. In Radiation Oncology we attend to patients at the hospital and in the Vall d’Hebron healthcare area of influence, but we are also active in other parts of the country as we are a leading centre for several complex diseases.
We offer a training programme in radiation oncology that includes learning in research. This means taking part in multidisciplinary committees that analyse different pathologies and generate hypotheses for future research projects. Residents integrate into a line of research when they join the programme, assisted by a consultant.
We are part of the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). We actively participate in different national and international research groups, such as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), and the Radiation Oncology Clinical Research Group (GICOR).
Cancer is the abnormally fast multiplication of cells which spread and invade nearby tissue or other parts of the body. It can also spread to other organs. This is known as “metastasis”.
There are over 200 types of cancer. They are normally categorised according to the tissue or organ where they originate. Different molecular subtypes are often included which determine the course of treatment and therapeutic options.
Cancer is a complex disease that varies depending on the type of cancer, location, tumours, malignancy, causes and approaches.
Symptoms of cancer can be varied and very much depend on the type of tumour. However, many cancers may give warning signs such as:
39,900 cases were diagnosed in Catalonia in 2015, excluding skin cancer or melanoma. This breaks down as affecting 23,600 men and 13,300 women. The incidence rate is 345 cases for every 100,000 men and 217 for every 100,000 women. In men, the most common cancer is prostate cancer, followed by colorectal and lung cancer. In women, the most common cancers are breast, colorectal and lung cancer. The mortality rate for cancer is around 109 cases for every 100,000 men and 55 for every 100,000 women.
Different tests are used to detect cancer, such as:
Imaging tests can also be requested such as:
Finally, tissue analyses are requested:
Cancer is treated using a multidisciplinary approach and different medical specialisations are combined to treat it appropriately. This treatment follows a protocol: surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. There are also specific therapies for some tumours such as hormone therapy, targeted therapies or immunotherapy.
A series of factors influence and have an impact on cancer:
There are also screening programmes for some kinds of cancer.
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