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.
Below we will list the departments and units that form part of Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the main diseases that we treat. We will also make recommendations based on advice backed up by scientific evidence that has been shown to be effective in guaranteeing well-being and quality of life.
Vols saber com serà la teva estada a l’Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron? Aquí trobaràs tota la informació.
They are inherited diseases affecting the heart and aorta. A range of diseases are included such as myocardiopathies, conduction diseases, and genetic aortopathies.
Myocardiopathies are diseases of the myocardium, the muscular tissue of the heart. There are several types of myocardiopathy: dilated, hypertrophic, non-compaction, arrhythmogenic dysplasia of the right and/or left ventricle and restrictive. Imaging techniques are used for diagnosis. Medical treatment and, where necessary, fitting a resynchronisation defibrillator can avoid complications and improve patients’ quality of life.
Pharmacological provocation tests are important for diagnosis of conduction diseases such as Brugada syndrome, long QT and short QT syndrome and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. Treatment is medical and sometimes a defibrillator device may need to be fitted.
Inherited aortopathies, or diseases of the aorta, such as Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz syndrome and vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome require imaging techniques to diagnose them accurately. Medical treatment and elective surgery prevent complications arising.
Symptoms of inherited heart disease are:
The prevalence of these disorders varies between 1/500 for hypertrophic myocardiopathy, 1/5,000 for conduction disorders and 1/5,000-10,000 for Marfan syndrome. Some of these diseases can therefore be said to be rare.
Diagnosis is reached using:
Treatment may require aortic surgery, the use of a resynchronisation automatic defibrillator implant or septal ablation.
Knowing the family medical history is important for all inherited heart diseases. Family screening can detect undiagnosed cases and lead to early treatment, and in some cases, preimplantation diagnosis.
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.
Vascular rings, which mainly affect children, are alterations to the position of the large arteries (aorta) which compress neighbouring structures such as the trachea and oesophagus. This anomaly may result in various disorders. The most common include: double aortic arch, pulmonary sling, and right aortic arch with aberrant left subclavian artery.
Anomalies are difficult to detect in less severe cases as infants may not present any symptoms. However, in most instances the child may have:
In the most severe cases, symptoms may appear in the first year of life. There may be difficulty breathing which causes the baby to wheeze or breathe noisily, especially when they cry. If your baby shows this symptom, it is vital to seek advice from experts or professionals who can rule out the presence of vascular rings.
Diagnosis is carried out using tests such as an echocardiogram and a study of the aorta. Suspicions can also be confirmed with a CT angiogram, which will show the precise distribution of the blood vessels and their relationship to other structures such as the trachea and the oesophagus.
This anomaly can only be treated through surgery, which is performed without extracorporeal circulation except in the case of pulmonary slings. The procedure frees the compressed structures by repositioning or dividing the blood vessels causing the compression.
A bronchoscopy is performed as standard to assess the trachea and bronchi during surgery, and any changes are observed after the operation.
Following surgery children can lead a normal life.
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