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.
Patients with localised cancer may be treated with curative intent, primarily surgery or radiotherapy in its various forms. However, these radical treatments are not harmless and can cause side effects that affect the quality of life of the treated patient, such as erectile dysfunction, urine leakage and/or digestive disorders.
Not all prostate tumours are highly aggressive or impact the patient’s survival. Some do not even affect quality of life. These are low or very low-risk rumours, which are not very aggressive and not very large in size. They can be controlled without the need for immediate active treatment, albeit with close monitoring.
This is the surgical procedure by which the prostate gland is removed. In this operation, the urologist removes the entire prostate and seminal vesicles. In some cases, nearby lymph nodes are also removed at the same time. The use of the DaVinci robotic system and the minimally invasive approach means that this procedure can be performed with greater accuracy and excellent results.
In this treatment, ionising radiation is administered from a source of external beam radiation that is integrated into devices called linear accelerators. The radiation is modulated and applied directly to the prostate, protecting the nearby organs (bladder, rectum and urethra) as far as possible.This consists of various treatment sessions that take place in the hospital on an outpatient basis.
In case of disseminated disease, treatment is based on the suppression of testosterone, new hormone molecules and chemotherapy depending on the stage of the disease.
Treatment of kidney diseases focuses on controlling factors that affect kidney function, such as blood pressure and metabolic imbalances. Accurate diagnosis helps tailor treatment and slow disease progression.
There are three different levels of treatment:
a) medical, with the use of medication or hormones to substitute the alterations mentioned. A diet that creates little urea or that contains low levels of potassium, drugs to control excess or lack of sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium or acidity. And medication to treat anaemia.
b) extrarenal purification methods: haemodialysis (passing the blood through an external circuit to purify it and filter out toxic substances using a suitable filter), and peritoneal dialysis, during which a solution is circulated inside the patient's peritoneal cavity and is then extracted, taking the toxic substances usually expelled through urine with it.
c) kidney transplant from a living or deceased donor. In this instance, the new kidney takes over the functions of the diseased kidney. How long a kidney graft lasts varies and relies on controlling episodes of organ rejection that may occur after transplant. A young patient with kidney insufficiency may require more than one kidney transplant over their lifetime, although the useful life of these grafts is increasing day by day thanks to new immunosuppressant drugs.
The Urology Department stands out for our use of the latest technology and hospital specialisation with our primary care techniques. The creation of fast stream to the Hospital, alongside protocols we share with primary care centres, mean our Department brings excellence, equity and efficiency to the public health system.
The Urology Department is a reference centre in complex pathologies for Catalonia and the rest of Spain. The Unit’s aim is to integrate care, teaching and research. Over recent years, we have incorporated the most modern, least invasive surgical techniques, such as laparoscopic surgery and robotics (Da Vinci).
The Urology Teaching Unit is led by the Vall d’Hebron Urology Department, with participation from other specialisations such as General Surgery, Nephrology, Intensive Care Medicine, and Paediatric Urology.
Urology training itinerary
Urology deals with the study, diagnosis and treatment of medical-surgical conditions associated with the urinary and retroperitoneal system of both sexes. It also includes the male reproductive system of any age group, that may have congenital, metabolic, obstructive or oncological disorders, or injuries due to trauma.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks the myelin of neurons, causing motor, sensory, visual, cognitive problems, and fatigue. Early detection and treatment help slow progression and improve quality of life.
Although the cause is still unknown, the immune system is understood to react in a way that damages the body’s myelin. Loss of myelin causes alterations to brain function, the spinal cord or the optic nerve, and may cause the loss of neuronal tissue. Long term, it can also directly destroy the neurones themselves.
Areas where myelin is lost, called “lesions”, or “demyelinated plaques” appear as hardened areas in nervous tissue. These lesions can appear in multiple locations in the brain, the spinal cord or the optic nerve.
There are multiple symptoms that can appear in two contexts: in the form of specific episodes and/or with increasing disability.
Flare-ups are periods of clinical changes lasting more than 24 hours and that tend to diminish with time, although in some cases there may be lasting effects. If the disease progresses, however, then symptoms appear gradually and accumulate fairly progressively and slowly. Some people only suffer a period of flare-ups, in others the disease is only progressive, and for others it may become progressive following a period of flare-ups.
Depending on the areas affected, symptoms can include:
Balance and coordination may also be affected, as well as urinary function and sexual function.
The number of cases of multiple sclerosis is on the increase worldwide, and has reached a figure of 230 in every 100,000 people in some regions. In Spain, its prevalence is around 100 cases for every 100,000 people. 2.3 million are estimated to be affected around the world, of whom 45,000 were diagnosed in Spain and 7,500 in Catalonia. It is more common in women; two to three women are diagnosed with MS for every man affected. It is usually diagnosed in young adults. Although genetic factors do play a role, it is not considered an inherited disease. Studies show that the increase in cases diagnosed could be due to improvements in diagnostic methods and the quality of epidemiological studies, but also due to the increased risk posed by environmental factors. Vitamin D deficiency is currently associated with the disease.
Diagnosis is complex and carried out by studying the patient's medical history, neurological testing, MRI scan, lumbar puncture and evoked potentials.
Treatment for multiple sclerosis is divided into treating the cause and treating the symptoms.
Treating the cause is based on administering drug treatments orally, endovenously or subcutaneously to try to slow the progression of the disease. Nowadays, a series of drugs of varying efficacy, safety and tolerability are available. The current challenge is to provide the right drug for the right patient; an approach known as “personalised” or “precision medicine”, in addition to quickly detecting patients who do not respond well to a given treatment.
Treating the symptoms: drug treatments are available for some symptoms but not others. A holistic approach to multidisciplinary rehabilitation is used where drug treatments are not available. This type of treatment has been shown to be effective at reducing the impact of the disease on patients’ social life and activities.
Although there are no specific recommendations to prevent the disease, a healthy lifestyle is important (healthy diet, not smoking, moderate exercise, etc.). This will encourage better brain health and can prevent the disease worsening.
Urology, General Hospital
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