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.
The Inherited Heart Disease Unit is basically devoted to providing care. We have a team of two cardiologists, three interns and two nurses, one full-time and one part-time. This Unit addresses all myocardiopathies in general, and inherited cases in particular.
Myocardiopathies are diseases where the myocardium is weak, dilated or has some other structural problem. Often, the heart is unable to pump or work properly. In the case of inherited myocardiopathies, due to the fact they are often treated as part of uncommon diseases, specialist management is not within the scope of all clinical cardiologists. It requires specific treatment and involves specific technology.
We promote day surgery as it is an increasingly common alternative to traditional hospital admissions and is more convenient for patients. The facilities, technology and running of the whole centre are focused on maximising this kind of walk-in surgery.
How to get there
Vall d’Hebron’s Day Surgery Unit (UCSI), currently situated in the Pere Virgili Major Outpatient Surgery and Rehabilitation Centre, offers an alternative to the usual hospital admissions process. The 2,330 m2 Unit boasts the latest cutting edge technology, and facilities designed specifically with ambulatory surgery in mind. The centre has 6 operating rooms, 3 surgeon’s offices and 4 outpatient rooms for nursing, anaesthesia and surgical specialities. The unit currently performs over 13,700 procedures a year.
Whilst always under supervision, all patients can return home to continue their recovery a few hours after treatment. This surgery service is focused on convenience for patients, so they can recover in their normal environment without having to be admitted to hospital.
The surgical teams at the Day Surgery Unit come from other departments and units at Vall d’Hebron. Ambulatory surgery related to various parts of the Hospital is currently carried out here, such as General and Digestive Surgery, Maxillofacial Surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Urology and Vascular Surgery from the General Hospital; Orthopaedic foot, ankle, hand, shoulder and knee surgery, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery from the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital; and Gynaecological Surgery, Fertility and Breast Disorder Surgery from the Maternity and Children’s Hospital.
The Day Surgery Unit also actively participates in specialised medical training through the Resident Medical Intern (MIR) programme in the different surgical specialisations.
Whether dealing with basic healthcare treatments or highly complex specialities, we focus on the child in order to provide comprehensive care. We are an internationally recognised hospital focused on children, and a leading centre in Catalonia.
At the Children’s Hospital, we treat all medical specialities, from basic care to third-degree specialities. We are the children’s hospital with the largest capacity for dealing with complex paediatric conditions in Spain.
The Women’s Hospital puts women at the centre of healthcare, always respecting their wishes, providing highly complex care without requiring mother or baby to move to another maternity centre, whatever the circumstances.
We offer specific and advanced treatments in neonatology, paediatric transplants and cardiac surgery. We also specialise in areas such as cystic fibrosis and foetal surgery, and are the leading centre in oncohaematology, neurology, minority diseases, pulmonology, nephrology, burns and minimally invasive surgery.
We guarantee continuity of care with a multidisciplinary approach thanks to the connection with the other three Vall d’Hebron hospitals, from foetal stage to adulthood.
We carry out translational research. We take patients’ illnesses to the laboratories, which allows us to improve their diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, our doctors are also researchers who participate in numerous national and international projects, which means our patients are the first to benefit from the most advanced treatments.
Regarding highly complex paediatric care in long-term treatments, there is the Care Park, Oncology Day Hospital and Paediatric Haematology. Opened in 2015, it is the first area in Spain of this size and with these characteristics dedicated exclusively to caring for children with cancer. A 500 square metre facility with 12 treatment areas, four consultation rooms, a clinical trial unit, an examination room with anaesthesia support and an area where immunosuppressed children may be admitted.
We offer the highest levels of experience and knowledge at the service of children and their families based on a comprehensive vision of the patient, incorporating emotional support in order to improve the patients’ emotional quality of life.
We promote the participation of children and their families by teaming up with doctors to care for the disease and help the child overcome the challenge of integrating it into their day-to-day life.
In 2021, the Paediatric Multi-Purpose Day Hospital was opened, located in the same place as the previous Day Hospital, but with more space thanks to the area freed up by the transfer of old consulting rooms to the new Paediatric Outpatients’ Department, which opened on 18 December 2020. The facilities are designed to improve the quality of life of patients and their families by allowing testing and administration of parenteral medication without the need for hospitalisation.
Complex chronic patients (e.g. primary or secondary immunodeficiencies or minority diseases), chronic patients (e.g. diabetics or asthmatics) and finally acute patients, which are those requiring one-off treatment or care or a diagnostic test, are treated.
We are the reference women’s hospital. We deal with everything from basic care to advanced treatments in high-risk pregnancies, foetal surgery or prenatal diagnosis.
We believe in the need for proximity between mother and child, which is why we always give priority to breastfeeding and encourage the family and children to spend as much time together as possible.
We are also a reference centre for premature infants. We have the only NIDCAP-accredited public neonatology department and we are pioneers in the skin-to-skin kangaroo method.
The Women’s Hospital respects the mother’s wishes on how she would like to give birth, be it natural or medically-induced. And we are the only centre in Catalonia that can offer highly complex care without requiring mother or baby to move to another maternity centre, whatever the circumstances
We are also the leading hospital among breast pathology units (breast cancer) and gynaecological cancer (ovarian and uterine). And we are a leading centre in robotic surgery and minimally invasive surgery and leaders in implementing improvements in post-operative recovery in Spain and in endometriosis care in Catalonia.
The Paediatric Neurology Department at the Hospital Vall d’Hebron is specialised in the genetic diagnosis of childhood neurological diseases. It participates in different national and European reference networks (like the URDCat Project, Solve-RD, and the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases), which centralises a large number of paediatric patients with hereditary dystonia. The genetic studies are carried out in the Paediatric Neurology Laboratory as part of several different research studies, which are funded by national and international entities as well as associations of families affected by dystonia.
Patients who are likely to suffer from dystonia undergo different metabolic, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging tests in order to classify what kind of dystonia they have, before carrying out genetic studies. Next, DNA sequencing studies are performed to establish the genetic origin of the dystonia.
To determine the origin of the patient’s dystonia, which is essential for deciding on a correct course of treatment.
There are many different genetic origins of dystonia. Therefore, diagnosing it requires both conventional and newly developed DNA sequencing techniques.
For patients with myoclonus-dystonia, first, Sanger sequencing is done for the epsilon-sarcoglycan gene, which is responsible for 70% of myoclonus-dystonia cases in children.
For patients with other kinds of dystonia, whole-exome sequencing (on the parents and the patient) or sequencing for the index case (the patient) is done first, depending on the DNA samples available.
There are no risks for the patient.
Skin tests are the technique most commonly used to begin diagnosing an allergy. Following a meticulous clinical history, it is decided which skin tests may be useful, depending on the case.
Skin allergy tests serve to find out if a patient is "sensitised" to a particular substance, if their body recognises the substance and reacts when it comes into contact with it. These tests DO NOT DIAGNOSE an allergy. They are only positive if accompanied by one of the symptoms compatible with an allergy, helping a diagnosis to be reached.
There are two main types:
The risk of these tests is very low. Only in extremely allergic patients and usually with drug testing, there is a certain risk of serious and widespread allergic reaction.
In some cases, blood tests can be conducted to assess blood sensitisation.
Analytical testing provides a lot of information which enables the origin and severity of the kidney disease to be established. A kidney biopsy allows a microscopic study that is often essential. Genetic testing also provides very important information.
These tests serve to determine the origin of the kidney disease. There are many causes that may be genetic or acquired via a bacterial or viral infection, or resulting from a metabolic disease (diabetes) or an autoimmune disease such as lupus.
In addition to blood and urine tests, a kidney biopsy and/or a genetic analysis, imaging tests can also be useful.
A kidney biopsy may produce minimal bleeding that almost always stops by itself. If it doesn't, it can be controlled using an interventional radiology procedure, whereby the kidney is catheterised to close the area of bleeding. Genetic testing is increasingly used to decrease the need for a kidney biopsy. However, kidney biopsy continues to be the main diagnostic method for kidney disease.
The aim of the electrocardiogram is to determine any damage to the heart and the effects of medication and devices on the circulatory system’s main organ, as well as being very useful in detecting and analysing cardiac arrhythmias, acute episodes of coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. It can also be used in preoperative examinations, especially in medium- and high-complexity surgery, if there are risk factors such as ischemic heart disease, diabetes, stroke, heart failure or renal dysfunction.
To carry out the test, the healthcare professional connects the wires of the electrocardiogram to the skin of the patient using adhesives or suction cups called "electrodes", which are connected to the ankles, wrists and chest in order to detect electrical impulses from different parts of the body.
During the electrocardiogram, the patient must be lying down, relaxed and silent, with normal breathing and with their arms and legs still. Occasionally, the doctor may ask the patient to hold their breath for a few seconds.
The electrocardiogram records electrical activity from the surface of the heart, thanks to electrodes that are stuck to the body. This record of electrical activity is then copied onto paper that is then interpreted by a professional based on the patient’s symptoms and clinical history.
It is a simple, fast test that causes no discomfort or pain. It poses no risk to patients.
Colposcopy allows an in-depth examination of the uterus, or cervix, for early identification of possible lesions that could be precursors to cancer or cancerous lesions. This is done using a special microscope called a colposcope, which is used to find out the cause of an "abnormal" cytology. During the exploration, gynaecologists study the cervix and decide whether a biopsy should be taken and from what area. They can also remove certain tissues, if necessary. For the biopsy, a small sample is taken and sent to the laboratory to examine the cells. From this examination, the doctors can diagnose and decide on treatment, if necessary.
This technique is used for early detection of lesions that could trigger cancer of the cervix and also to take samples to diagnose and even remove tissues.
This exploration also lets us diagnose other sexually transmitted infections in addition to HPV.
To perform the test, the patient should be placed on the gynaecological stretcher with legs in stirrups.
The doctor then inserts a device inside the vagina, the speculum, which separates the walls, and then brings the colposcope, which lets them see the area to be examined. If they detect anomalous areas during examination, they can decide whether to take a biopsy of the tissue that must be analysed later with a microscope in the laboratory.
Anomalies detected in a cervical biopsy are called cervical intraepithelial neoplasms (CIN) and are classified as:
Possible discomfort while taking the sample and, sometimes, light bleeding that can last up to 3 or 4 days.
Cervicovaginal cytology, also called a Pap smear test, is used to take a sample of cells from the wall of the uterus, or cervix, to be analysed to detect abnormal changes in the cells there due to the human papillomavirus (HPV), before cancer or infections develop. If the test shows the presence of HPV, the doctor may request other tests, such as a colposcopy (link to colposcopy).
Cervical-vaginal cytology is used to detect cervix cancer early on, as well as other precancerous abnormalities of the cervix to help us provide early treatment, which increases the chances of recovering from the disease.
The patient lies on a stretcher with their legs in stirrups for gynaecological examination, as the doctor performing the test inserts a speculum into the vagina. This device allows us to separate the walls of the vagina to see the cervix.
The doctor performing the test can then extract a sample of the walls of the vagina or vaginal exudate at the back of this area. A second sample is taken from the external part of the cervix, the ectocervix, and another sample from the cervix canal that connects the interior of the uterine cavity with the vagina, also called the endocervix.
Finally, these samples are sent to the laboratory, where they will be analysed with a microscope.
To do this test, no preparation is necessary beforehand, though it is recommended that the patient not be on her period, to avoid possible errors.
There are no risks, though sometimes bleeding may occur when the sample is taken, but this will not usually last more than one day.
The patient should try to remain relaxed during the test, since if the vagina contracts, the test can cause some discomfort.
The computed tomography, also known as a "CT" or "CAT scan", is a test that gives morphological information on different types of tissues: bones, lungs, brain, liver, blood vessels and soft tissues etc.. This test lets us diagnose cardiovascular diseases, infections, musculoskeletal disorders, cancer and infections, as well as track progress and plan medical and surgical treatments, if necessary.
In order to do the test, the patient must lie down on the CT stretcher. The patient then moves through the interior of the device. Depending on the part of the body being examined, the patient may be aware of this movement or not.
While this radiological exploration is taking place, a contrast medium (iodine) is administered into a vein, though the patient will not even notice this as it is completely painless. You will be accompanied at all times by health professionals who will be on hand to help you and answer any questions you have.
Once the test has been completed, the radiologist, who is a specialist in CT scans and other radiological exams, will interpret the images and provide a report for the specialist who requested the test.
There is no risk involved, unless the patient is intolerant or especially sensitive to any of the components of the contrast substance.
However, there may be risks if the patient has some illnesses, but this will depend on each individual case. In addition, there are the risks for certain people, that are common to all radiological explorations with contrast:
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