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.
Diabetes is an illness that manifests itself as an increase in blood glucose, which is called hyperglycaemia. There are two types, type 1 and 2.
The goal of treatment of the disease is to reduce it, and maintain normal glucose values in the blood, glycaemia.
To achieve this, there are two types of medication: non-insulin hypoglycaemics and insulin. The non-insulin treatment is used to reduce glycaemia and is only used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus, when diet and physical exercise are not enough to regulate the level of sugar in the blood.
Type 1 diabetes must be treated with insulin, a hormone that is essential for life that is normally created by our bodies, and which needs to be replaced when a patient is unable to generate it. Insulin cannot be administered orally meaning it needs to be administered subcutaneously, usually with pre-filled pen injectors.
Although insulin treatment is essential in treating type 1 diabetes, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus may also need it at some point in their illness.
Currently, there are different treatments that can alleviate the signs and symptoms, and, in most cases, cure skin lesions. The dermatology specialist decides the most appropriate treatment for each patient, depending on the type of psoriasis, its location, its extent and severity and the characteristics of the person suffering from it.
There are three types of treatment:
This small device, which is implanted beneath the collarbone thanks to a small incision, sends electrical impulses to the heart so that it can beat at a constant pace.
Pacemakers help regulate the rhythm of the heart when natural stimulation fails, meaning they are used when the heart rate is slower or faster than it should be, with irregular beats, or if there is a blockage in the electrical system of the heart. Normally there are two causes:
There are two types of pacemaker:
The artificial pacemaker consists of an electric impulse generator, the pacemaker, and a conductive cable. To install it, an incision is made in the chest, below the left collarbone.
The cable is inserted into the right atrium or the right ventricle, depending on the disease. If the patient only needs one electrode, it is placed in the right ventricle. If he or she needs two, the other is placed in the right atrium.
We check it is placed properly by means of a radiological procedure and, if everything is correct, it is connected and remains under the skin. Afterwards the incision is sutured.
Once implanted, the electrodes transmit signals to the heart that the device detects as signals, and sends the electrical impulses to the heart to stimulate it rhythmically.
Always carry your European pacemaker patient card with you, as it contains all the information about the type of pacemaker and its settings.
To avoid eczema it is important to take good care of the skin. There are also topical and systemic treatments, which must be indicated by a medical professional.
There are three types of treatments for eczema:
The lung transplant consists of replacing one or two sick lungs with healthy lungs. In general, transplants are carried out when there is a disease that involves severe and progressive chronic respiratory failure. Lung transplants started in 1981 in California. In Catalonia, this type of intervention is carried out exclusively at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, for both children and adults.
Currently, 4,000 lung transplants are carried out every year around the world, including children and adults, especially in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. In the case of Catalonia, nine lung transplants are carried out per million inhabitants, a figure that puts us at the top of the tables. Our experience ranges from month-old babies to 70-year-olds.
Normally, it is a pneumologist with a patient with chronic respiratory insufficiency who contacts the Lung Transplant Unit for both adults and children at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital. From that first point of contact, the patient will be assessed by a multidisciplinary team in order to offer the best option, which might involve a transplant or simply medical treatment. It is important to remember that people who undergo lung transplants need to be strong enough to both wait for the operation and recover from it. This is a fundamental, complex requirement that must be met if the transplant is to provide benefits for the patient.
The survival rates for lung transplants are very positive. More than half of all patients are still alive after five years of the operation, and one in three patients after ten years. However, the goal of specialists is to continue researching to improve these results and prevent chronic rejection, and all the factors that lead to this complication.
Patients undergoing lung transplants must take an immunosuppressive therapy and prophylactics for an extended period of time. Most of these treatments are oral and in some cases may be inhaled.
In order to prevent complications, the medical advice given by your doctor should be followed precisely, avoid stress or over-exertion and make sure you follow the medication plan exactly. Aside from that, you can expect to lead a normal life.
There are multiple reasons why a cornea might be damaged. When this happens, a cornea transplant is performed which involves changing that part of the affected eye for another healthy one from a donor.
The main pathologies that can lead to a cornea transplant are: keratocon, scars and ulcers, corneal dystrophies (especially Fuchs’ dystrophy) and decompensation from previous surgeries and treatments.
The main symptoms that are detected when a cornea is damaged are:
Clinical diagnosis is essential, but there are also different tests to see if a corneal transplant should be carried out, and in particular, what kind is required. The tests are:
The type of transplant varies depending on the affected part of the cornea.
A heart transplant is when a new heart is implanted. When the organs to be transplanted are the heart and the lungs, this is known as a “cardiopulmonary” transplant. This procedure is necessary when the patient suffers from a heart failure that limits their daily activity and all other treatment options have been exhausted.
The purpose of the transplant is to implant a heart from another person (usually from a donor in a state of brain death) to take over the functions of the heart of the sick person. Sometimes, heart disease causes lung problems or vice versa: pulmonary disease can cause heart disease. In these cases, the heart and the lungs must be transplanted, which is called a "cardiopulmonary transplant". Depending on the type of illness, one or both organs will be transplanted, whatever offers the maximum benefit at the lowest risk.
Before the intervention, a team of professionals must study the patient following a clinical and surgical protocol in order to guarantee success.
The operation is performed under general anaesthesia. During the process of heart transplant, the sick heart is removed and in its place a new one is implanted. Sometimes, it is also necessary to transplant the lungs.
In order to perform these operations, a multidisciplinary team of highly specialised and experienced professionals is required, as well as advanced technology and appropriate facilities.
Post-operative care is handled by the Intensive Care Unit, where intensive doctors, cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and pulmonologists take care of the patient until they are stable, when they are then moved on to a conventional hospital ward.
During this process, the doctor indicates personalised immunosuppressive therapy programme and infection prevention to be followed by the patient, along with any appropriate modifications that might be needed during the post-operative period.
A transfusion of blood and/or haemoderivatives is used to replace blood components that are vital for the survival of patients: blood cells, platelets and plasma, which cannot be replaced by other alternatives.
This treatment is indicated in patients who present a lack of essential blood components at any given time.
Transfusions carry a set of risks and the decision to undergo a transfusion should only be taken by a doctor after looking at the patient’s condition and taking an analysis and assessment of the situation. In this case, patients must always sign an authorisation document called an “informed consent” form.
Blood and its components are obtained from volunteers and altruistic donors. Before making a blood donation, donors must fill out a questionnaire about their state of health and, in addition, they must undergo a medical examination. All the blood components obtained are then analysed to make sure there are no diseases that can be transmitted through the blood.
Before making the transfusion, we must verify the blood derivative is compatible with the patient's blood. The physician in charge must assess the risk and benefits of treatment for the patient.
All the components are administered through a vein with a venous catheter.
Although blood transfusions are now very safe, some undesired side effects may occur:
The transmission of infectious diseases associated with blood is very unlikely nowadays. All donated blood is subject to prior analysis to find out about the blood group and prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, Chagas disease and infectious diseases
The transmission of infectious diseases associated with blood is very unlikely nowadays. All donated blood is subject to prior analysis to find out about the blood group and prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, Chagas disease and human T-lymphotrophic virus.
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.
Chemotherapy consists of combining different types of medications that destroy cancer cells in different ways. It acts on these cells that are rapidly reproducing, cancer cells and healthy cells, too.
Chemotherapy is administered in different ways and for various reasons:
The human body is made up of different cells that each have a certain function. Cancer begins when a group of cells reproduces very quickly and uncontrollably. This affects the cells’ function and, therefore, stops the body functioning normally.
Chemotherapy acts on these cells, which may or may not be cancerous, that are rapidly reproducing. This causes side effects, which will depend on the medication, dose, duration and each individual person.
Chemotherapy can be intravenous or oral, meaning it can be administered by the vein or by the mouth. The first option is the most common.
To administer this treatment, sometimes a catheter is left in place that is then connected to a disc below the skin. The medication is administered through this device. This catheter is called a port-a-cath, although there are more types of catheters. The way the vein is accessed depends on the characteristics of the person and the duration of the treatment.
Chemotherapy is applied at intervals and the duration depends on the type of programme, control and treatment.
Chemotherapy can produce the following side effects:
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