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The Paediatrics Department at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital integrates several sections and units of specific paediatric areas.
We provide assistance from birth to adolescence. As an integrated center at the Vall de Hebrón University Hospital, we facilitate the transfer of child patients to adults within the same hospital.
Vall de Hebrón Children's Hospital is one of the centers with the most capacity to solve complex pediatric processes in Catalonia and Spain.
The Vall d'Hebron University Hospital's Paediatric Department includes various sections and units from specific paediatric areas (paediatric subspecialities):
The Paediatric Department staff includes 52 specialist paediatric doctors to help provide the care, teaching and research the department is responsible for. It also has the necessary nursing and administrative staff, as well as assistants who help with our research and social work and much else. The 60 paediatric residents in their specific areas receive training and take part in care during their time in the various units within the department.
We provide care for all types of paediatric patients, from infants to adolescents, with acute and chronic paediatric diseases corresponding to the areas mentioned above. You can find more information about each specific section and unit on their respective web pages.
There are 60 paediatrics residents at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, totalling 15 per year. In recent years, Vall d'Hebron Paediatrics has consolidated its position as the number 1 destination for new resident doctors, and obtained the best results of all hospitals in Spain in the 2017 medical exams.
The Paediatric Department is responsible for significant teaching activity as part of the Autonomous University of Barcelona medical degree, with a paediatrician professor, three professors certified by the Spanish National Agency for the Evaluation of Quality and Accreditation (ANECA) and a professor accredited for advanced research by the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia (AQU), together with six associate medical professors.
The Paediatric Department also teaches Masters courses in paediatric subspecialities: Paediatric endocrinology, infectious and immunodeficiency diseases, paediatric neurology and paediatric pneumology and allergology.
The Paediatric Department's research is among the most important on the Vall d’Hebron campus, with specific lines that are listed in the individual descriptions of the Sections and Units concerned.
The Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Department is a leader in treating cancer in childhood and adolescence. Of every 1,000 new cases of childhood cancer detected every year in Spain, 200 are diagnosed in Catalonia.
According to data from the Spanish Register of Tumours in Infants (RETI), ours it the Department that treats the most children in Spain, and is the leading centre for the transplant of haematopoietic progenitors or stem cells (better known as "bone marrow transplants"), having performed more than 1200 such operations. The Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Day Hospital handles up to 3,600 treatment visits a year and up to 7,600 visits for consultations.
Our experience, staff and advanced technological prowess mean our Department can offer multidisciplinary, comprehensive care to patients and their families, covering all diagnostic procedures and offering the most advanced treatments. We are a self-sufficient department when it comes to applying the latest care techniques in this field, and we also have resources to carry out research in such diseases.
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of child mortality due to illness in children more than one year old. Survival is currently around 80%, but it is essential we advance research into the disease to achieve more effective treatments.
The Department has a multiprofessional team of staff made up of doctors, nurses and others. Their functions include:
The Group for Translational Research into Childhood and Adolescent Cancer is focused on research for new treatment targets or molecule targets (the place in the organism a drug acts on), based on the most advanced knowledge available on the biology of paediatric cancers. The Group has identified and will continue to work on new molecular targets for sarcomas (cancer that originates in connective tissue cells) and tumours of the nervous system.
Collaborations with the biotechnology industry are currently being established and consolidated in order to develop new drugs capable of inhibiting pro-oncogenic processes, such as invasion and proliferation, in order to provide patients with alternative therapy options.
As an international centre of reference, our Department belongs to the International Network of Excellence in the Treatment of Cancer in Children and Adolescents. We carry out clinical work, research and teaching activity in coordination with international scientific societies: International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), and national societies: Spanish Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (SEHOP), Programme for the Study and Treatment of Malignant Haemopathy (Pethema).
Based on data from the National Registry of Child Tumours, our hospital diagnoses and treats the most children. Their survival rates are comparable to the most prestigious international centres of excellence. Our centre was the first in Spain to obtain JACIE accreditation (Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT and EBMT), the most prestigious in our field.
The Haematopoietic Progenitors Transplant Unit is the most active of its kind in Spain, with an average of 40 transplants per year. We perform all kinds of transplants, and are pioneers in complex cases, such as unrelated donors and umbilical cord blood transplants. We also perform transplants in cases of malignant oncohaematological diseases, acquired medullary aplasias and congenital pathologies such as immunodeficiencies, haemoglobinopathies, metabolopathies and medullary insufficiencies.
We should highlight our translational research group, which applies the knowledge acquired from basic research to the prevention and treatment of clinical cases in childhood cancer and haematological diseases, which contributes to better diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and control of such diseases. The Department has a Clinical Trials Unit for Innovative Treatments and belongs to the Innovative Therapy in Cancer Children (ITCC) group.
The Paediatric Ophthalmology Unit at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital sits within the Ophthalmology Department and is tasked with specialist care of eye conditions affecting paediatric patients. It is made up of three ophthalmologists with specific training in paediatric eye pathology: Dr Silvia Alarcón Portabella, Dr Nieves Martín Begué and Dr Charlotte Wolley Dod.
In this Unit, we deal with all ocular pathology affecting children, from birth to 16 years old. We collaborate closely with the Ophthalmology Department at the General Hospital and are also in contact with other paediatric units, in order to establish common strategies in cases of systemic diseases affecting the eyes (juvenile idiopathic arthritis, intracranial hypertension, neurofibromatosis, etc.).
We are a benchmark national unit of expertise (CSUR) for the diagnosis and treatment of intraocular and orbital tumours in paediatric patients.
Some of the pathologies that we diagnose, monitor or treat most frequently are:
Our goals are to improve the health and quality of life of children with neurological diseases and offer comprehensive care through collaboration across multidisciplinary teams. Thanks to the implementation of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, we can advance our knowledge of molecular causes of, and develop new treatment strategies for, early onset neurological diseases.
Paediatric Neurology offers comprehensive care for children with neurological disorders, from common problems such as headaches or neurological follow-ups of at-risk new-borns to complex, heterogeneous and rare illnesses that are difficult to diagnose, such as neuromuscular diseases, epileptic encephalopathies and neurometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.
The work carried out by this Section in the fields of research and teaching is especially important, and we participate in national and international networks, working groups and various patient associations. The Section is accredited as a Spanish Reference Centre (CSUR) in ataxia and paraparesis, neuromuscular diseases and metabolic diseases, and is a European Reference Network centre (ERN) for rare neurological diseases, neuromuscular diseases and metabolic diseases.
Quality care requires early diagnosis, treatments that are suitable and specific to each patient and support for the emotional and social aspects of the child and his or her close relatives. In addition to the different healthcare professionals (from neuropaediatrics, pneumology, rehabilitation, traumatology, cardiology, nutrition and gastroenterology, nephrology and urology, among others), our multidisciplinary teams include nursing staff, physiotherapists, speech therapists and psychologists, to make sure we are able to carry out this work effectively. We also rely on the indispensable collaboration of highly qualified professionals from the Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units and Accident and Emergency Department for complications that often affect those with neurological diseases. These professionals, alongside those from the Palliative Care Unit, are highly experienced in the fields of neuroradiology, clinical neurophysiology and neuropathology.
Finally, all the staff members take part in different weekly clinical sessions (general paediatric neurology, neuroradiology and epilepsy sessions), monthly sessions (neuromuscular, metabolic and genetic diseases), as well as multidisciplinary meetings and committees aimed at reaching consensus and optimising the oversight and treatment of patients.
In the area of neurometabolic diseases, we collaborate in the neonatal screening programme for the detection of 23 different diseases, which has allowed us to increase our knowledge in the natural history of these diseases, mainly in lysosomal diseases.
Both basic and clinical research are essential, and they represent a significant portion of this Section's activity. The group's researchers have set up the Paediatric Neurology Research Group, which develops clinical research in hospitals and basic research, applied to the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). Since 2009, it has been a member of the Consolidated Research Group for the University and Research Grant Management Agency (AGAUR).
Teaching activity in our Section includes undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education of professionals in the different areas of our specialty. Our Section constantly hosts paediatric and neurological residents from the HUVH and other hospitals in Catalonia, the rest of Spain and the EU as well as South America.
We should also highlight our organisation of a master's programme in Paediatric Neurology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, one of just two on-site master’s programmes in the sub-specialty in Spain. We also organise an annual refresher course in Paediatric Neurology and help coordinate the Master's Degree in Translational Biomedical Research at the VHIR.
The Integrated Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Unit (UCCAA) at Vall d'Hebron - Sant Pau is a part of the Cardiology Department, and its mission is to provide multidisciplinary care for adolescent and adult patients living with a congenital heart disease, as well as teaching and carrying out research in this field.
The Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Unit (UCCAA) was set up at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital more than 40 years ago, and we have been providing paediatric care for congenital heart diseases ever since. This Unit is the result of a collaboration agreement between our Hospital and the University Hospital of Santa Creu i Sant Pau, to bring together the effort, resources and experience of these two leading hospitals in the treatment of this disease.
Outpatient visits to the UCCAA Unit take place in the Outpatient Clinic of the Maternity and Children's Hospital, next to the Paediatric Cardiology Department, meaning we can group outpatient care for cardiology of congenital heart disease in a single area. This means that we can share work stations, databases and tools (the ECO 3D) and it makes the transfer and continuity of treatment simple, from paediatric age to adulthood, for what is a congenital and life-threatening disease.
Patients who require admission are directed to the General Hospital, and stay in the cardiology ward. Depending on their clinical circumstances, some of these adult patients with congenital heart disease must be admitted onto special wards:
In parallel with these services, there is also a clinic for reproductive counselling for women with congenital heart disease. This clinic is a part of the Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Unit (UCCAA), carried out jointly with the Gynaecology Department at the Outpatient Clinic of the Maternity and Children's Hospital. There, a cardiologist and a gynaecologist/angiologist, experts in congenital heart disease, work together to analyse the patient depending on their individual clinical and heart disease condition and explore their chances of conceiving children. Their mission is to inform, evaluate and offer sexual health planning, discussing the reproductive possibilities of the patients living with congenital heart disease.
The Clinical Neurophysiology Department deals with the medical specialty covering the set of techniques for the study and evaluation of the physiological and pathological functions of the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system. It is based on the direct or indirect recording of bioelectrical and neurobiological phenomena.
Our Department has a long tradition of applying diagnostic techniques in the various fields of neurophysiology, and we provide services to patients from a large number of medical and surgical specialties, such as neurology, neurosurgery, traumatology, rehabilitation, pneumology, paediatrics, internal medicine, ENT, intensive care medicine, ophthalmology, urology and family medicine, etc.
The incorporation of new diagnostic techniques, ever greater complexity and advances in the area of knowledge have all furthered the Department’s specialisation in a range of areas of knowledge:
The main objectives of this Department are:
The mission of the Neurosurgery Department is to guarantee excellence in care, education and research, with an international outlook. We have a particular focus on the needs and preferences of patients with diseases of the nervous system that require surgical treatment.
At the Neurosurgery Department, we apply the most advanced technologies and a multidisciplinary approach in a context that allows us to train neurosurgeons with strong ethical and moral values. All this, as part of the public health system that is accessible to all citizens.
Our Department is divided into three physically separate care sections located in three areas of the Vall d'Hebron hospital complex: the General Hospital, the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital and the Maternity and Children's Hospital. Finally, the Neurotraumatology and Neurosurgery Research Unit, which integrates all of the Department’s translational research, complements these three care sections, applying the knowledge garnered from basic research to the prevention and treatment of clinical cases.
The General Hospital is home to most of the Neurosurgery Department’s activity, housing most of its human resources, patients, beds and financial resources. The team is made up of a chief clinician, seven specialist doctors and a Head of Department. Three of the doctors share their activities with the Maternity and Children's Hospital, and form the main group of physicians devoted to paediatric neurosurgery. The other doctors also collaborate on neuropaediatric care, both with emergency care and low-prevalence pathologies, in which our Department is super-specialized. Adult patients are admitted here who have had cranioencephalic trauma and a programmed pathology of the rachis (spine).
The care offered by the Neurosurgery Department covers three fundamental aspects: general neurosurgery (adult patients), neurotraumatology and paediatric neurosurgery. Despite this differentiation, we are a cross-cutting department that addresses the following diseases:
The educational mission of any neurosurgery department at a high-tech hospital does not end with the training of undergraduate students and specialised training, but rather we are devoted to continuing training of all doctors with links to neurosurgery.
Our Department organises several clinical sessions, as well as annual doctoral courses and different continuing education programmes aimed not only at residents and neurosurgeons in the Department, but also specialists in intensive care, anaesthesia and, in some cases, nursing staff. On the other hand, most of our sessions offer a considerable number of continuing education credits.
The training programme for residents at the Neurosurgery Department includes a general educational programme, a rotation scheme, a plan detailing the objectives and surgical skills that must be acquired, the obligation to comply with the "Resident’s Logbook" and an appropriate evaluation system.
One essential aspect that is often overlooked is the importance of the role of nursing staff in neurosurgical care. We are keenly aware of this, and for years now the neurosurgery nursing staff at the General Hospital and the Neurotraumatology ICU have been integrated in the educational activities of the Department. Also, a symposium specific to nursing is included in the International Symposium on the Monitoring of Intracranial Pressure and Cerebral Haemodynamics that is celebrated biannually. The management of this event, as well as the contents and speakers chosen, falls to the nursing staff, who have total autonomy in organising their Symposium.
At the Paediatric Nephrology Department, we are specialised in studying and treating children with kidney disease to fulfil their physical, psychological, emotional and social development. The highly sophisticated level of technology at our practice, in conjunction with medical advances, means more and more children survive acute or chronic kidney disease.
Our Department is aimed at preventing kidney disease in children through early diagnosis, including prenatal diagnosis. In the case of children with chronic kidney disease in substitute treatment, we offer vital support with dialysis techniques. In the case of chronic terminal kidney disease, we offer kidney transplants as the best therapy.
Our team uses extracorporeal techniques, both in primary renal pathology and for preserving and prolonging the functionality of the kidney transplant (plasmapheresis, immunoabsorption, etc.).
We provide care and treatment for children with non-kidney pathologies with an impact on kidney function, especially in patients with chronic pathologies, such as solid organ transplants, bone marrow transplants and syndromes that affect the kidney, survivors of chemotherapy and nephrotoxicity.
Vall d'Hebron Hospital was the first centre in Spain to carry out a liver transplant in a child in 1985.
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department offers comprehensive. multidisciplinary treatment for patients, with the aim of achieving the highest level of autonomy, functional capacity and quality of life, using therapeutic measures and technical support aimed at correcting or minimising the disability diagnosed.
Ours is a transversal department, meaning we collaborate with many other medical and surgical departments at the Hospital. Our ability to provide support in all healthcare areas guarantees coordinated care for patients throughout their stay. We are a reference centre in Catalonia for various highly complex processes (spinal cord injury, acquired brain damage, spina bifida, burns) and we also engage in teaching and research.
At the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, we collaborate directly with various other medical and surgical departments at the hospital and share multidisciplinary patient care units. We are involved in virtually all units that deal with rare illnesses.
At our Department, in addition to doctors specialising in physical medicine and rehabilitation, we also have physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, auxiliary technicians in nursing care, monitors and administrative staff. Teamwork is the defining feature of our specialty. Our multidisciplinary rehabilitation team also includes specialised nursing staff, an orthopaedic technician and a social health worker.
Our cross-cutting department consists of two main areas of care, community and tertiary: we assist patients in our catchment area but also those from elsewhere who need highly specialised care. We work in an acute hospital where increasingly complex cases are handled, and we aim to adapt to ensure hospital stays are as short as possible.
At the Neurorehabilitation Day Hospital, patients who have a neurological disability and need comprehensive rehabilitation treatment can receive it in a single place, and, if they do not require nursing care, they can sleep at home.
Our Department works in three main areas: Osteoarticular, Neurorehabilitation and Specific Pathologies.
Officially accredited as a CSUR centre of reference (Reference centres, departments and units), the Spinal Cord Injury Unit is a reference centre in Catalonia and the rest of Spain for the treatment of people who have suffered spinal cord injuries. We offer comprehensive care in cases of acute and subacute spinal cord injuries. We offer physiotherapy, occupational therapy, sphincter re-education, infiltration treatment with botulinum toxin, risk assessment of injuries caused by a blow or by diseases, assessment of support for sitting independently.
Neurological rehabilitation. We offer comprehensive, intensive care, where required, to patients with strokes, cranial traumatism or acquired brain damage in general. We offer treatments involving physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, swallowing disorders and neuropsychology. At the Day Hospital, we provide neurorehabilitation (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, swallowing disorders and neurorehabilitation). We apply rehabilitation techniques using virtual reality, and offer infiltration treatments using botulinum toxin.
At the Foetal Medicine Unit of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, we offer highly specialised care for the treatment of various diseases, for both high-risk mothers and foetuses. Our extensive experience makes us a reference centre in Catalonia, Spain and neighbouring countries. Since 2015, we are the only centre in Spain that is able to offer all intrauterine surgery possibilities.
At our Unit, we use the most advanced technology, so we can offer highly sophisticated examinations and treatments both for the foetus, which becomes a patient before birth, and the mother, who presents very high risk problems, for herself and for the foetus or baby.
Quality, personalised care during gestation requires different highly specialised units that help in possible complications of the mother and the foetus. For mothers, we have an Intensive Care Medicine and Intermediate Obstetric Care Department; for babies, we offer families the most advanced procedures and technology in diagnosis, management and intrauterine neonatal treatments.
Some of the diseases we deal with are:
The Department set up the Maternal and Foetal Medicine Research Group, recognised by both Catalan and Spanish research agencies, which works at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute and promotes basic and applied research, and the host laboratories at Vall d'Hebron.
The Maternal and Foetal Medicine Research Group is part of the Division of Obstetrics, Paediatrics and Genetics, and is made up of a network of interdisciplinary researchers in basic and clinical sciences with a shared focus of interest.
Our state-level centre enjoys European recognition for the training of EBCOG residents EBCOG (European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and the EAPM (European Association of Perinatal Medicine). We are also the first centre accredited for the training of Fellows2 in gynaecological oncology and breast pathologies by the ESGO (European Society of Gynaecological Oncology).
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