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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 have an outpatient clinic connected to a day hospital and conventional hospitalisation, with support from the Imaging, Haemodynamics, Electrophysiology and Arrhythmias Units.
This Unit is also responsible for teaching and research. It is connected to the Genetics Unit with a unit for clinical research and a unit for basic research.
The main healthcare objectives of our Unit are:
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 Cardiology Department diagnoses and treats heart diseases. These include ischaemic heart diseases such as myocardial infarcts and angina. As well as cardiac insufficiency, valvulopathies, familial heart disease and arrhythmias.
Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of premature death in most developed countries.
The Vall d’Hebron Cardiology Department offers specialist care, with advanced procedures and the most innovative technology. It is a pioneer in developing and running clinical-practice protocols. It provides patient-centred service and offers medical care agreed on by the entire Cardiology team. Notable features include its own Clinical Epidemiology Unit and Experimental Cardiology Laboratory.
The Cardiology Department boasts 37 highly qualified professionals, with specific skills and training. The team is divided up into the following units:
These units are at the forefront of heart-disease treatment and offer multidisciplinary care for patients. The department aims to meet the future challenges of cardiology. A few examples of this are the Familial Heart Disease and Complex Congenital Heart Disease Units. And procedures such as transcatheter valve implanting and treatment for pregnant women with heart disease or endocarditis.
The nursing team is also a key feature for offering excellent care. They take part in every diagnostic and therapeutic procedure, in educating patients, in secondary prevention for the early detection of diseasesand in patient rehabilitation. Their work is especially important for elderly patients with multiple illnesses. Such patients have several programmes at their disposal, including clinical care and cardiac rehabilitation for ischaemic heart disease. The programmes are provided in coordination with the referred area’s primary care and gyms.
The research group in cardiovascular diseases carries out basic, clinical and epidemiological research. Its aim is to generate knowledge for improving prevention and patient diagnoses and treatment. The group has 19 main researchers and 32 clinical projects and trials currently running. It published 142 papers in 2020.
The research group is part of the CIBERCV network, the Biomedical Research Networking Centre on Cardiovascular Diseases. It collaborates in the following areas:
The research group takes part in the CIBERESP, the Biomedical Research Networking Consortium on Epidemiology and Public Health. It focuses on the following aspects:
The Vall d’Hebron training programme includes:
The Cardiology MIR programme’s success enables the recruitment of high-level doctors to the hospital.
The Cardiology Department also includes and jointly supervises an international doctoral school at the University of Barcelona as well as organising important scientific meetings. Vall d’Hebron enjoys international recognition for all the above reasons as well as considerable impact on many areas of knowledge. The department’s professionals collaborate in prestigious international bodies and societies, as well as on the editorial boards of scientific magazines in their field.
The goal of the Paediatric Cardiology Department is to provide care, teaching and research in the field of heart disease, be it congenital or acquired, from before birth up to adulthood. With more than 40 years’ experience offering patient care, this Department created the Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Unit (UCCAA) to provide continuity in care for patients with congenital heart disease
The Paediatric Cardiology Department deals with diseases that affect the heart from the foetal period. Foetal cardiology is developed in collaboration with the Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology Departments, which have all the human and technical resources necessary to guarantee quality care for treatment of heart disease, congenital or otherwise, detected during the foetal period.
In Catalonia, around 600 babies are born every year with congenital heart disease (between 5 and 12 per 1,000 live babies), of which about 25% will need surgical care during childhood.
Thanks to technological advances and improvement in surgical techniques, the survival rate of these patients has increased in recent years. This does mean that more and more children are growing up to develop cardiac insufficiency and suffer heart failure, meaning they will need a heart transplant. In addition, the rate of myocardiopathies, meaning genetic or acquired diseases that affect the strength of the heart muscle, is 1 per 100,000 inhabitants, and about 40% of children die within two years of diagnosis of the disease.
The Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Unit (UCCAA) is the result of a collaboration agreement between Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and University Hospital of Santa Creu i Sant Pau, to bring together the efforts, resources and experience of the two hospitals with the greatest tradition in treatment of these diseases in a single level three congenital heart disease unit for adolescents and adults.
In order to group together outpatient care for congenital heart disease into a single area, the UCCAA Unit outpatient clinic is located in the Maternity and Children's Hospital, next to the Paediatric Cardiology clinic. This common area allows us to share workstations, databases and tools (3D ultrasound) and makes transfer and continuity of treatment simple, from paediatric age to adulthood, for what is a congenital and lifelong pathology.
Patients who require admission do so at the General Hospital, and stay on the Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery ward. Depending on their clinical circumstances, some of these adult patients with congenital heart disease must be admitted onto special wards:
Patients in critical condition: Coronary and Intensive Cardiological Care Unit of the Cardiology Department.
Resident doctors in Cardiology are offered the chance to work in a centre with highly specialised care activities thanks to the operational structure and cross-cutting programmes that include cardiac surgery and paediatric surgery. Specialists working here deal with a diverse range of disorders such as arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, heart failure, acute coronary syndrome and valvulopathy, among others.
Cardiology training itinerary
The Cardiology Department Teaching Unit at Vall d’Hebron Hospital is divided into nine operational units. These include Outpatients, conventional wards, the Day Hospital, the Coronary Care Unit, Intensive Coronary Care, Semi-critical Care, Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging, Haemodynamics and Angiocardiography, Arrhythmia, Nuclear Cardiology and the Experimental Laboratory. It should be said that the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, part of the Cardiology Department, is unique within Spain.
We work in multidiscipline areas to treat specific medical problems such as Marfan syndrome and Congenital Heart Disease, and are national leaders in both fields. Our activity is always patient-centred and aims to maximise outpatient care and general cardiology. To this end we regularly run clinical care and scientific sessions that involve all professionals in the Department.
During training, residents progressively increase their level of skill, from taking medical histories at the start of their training, for example, to the use of automatic defibrillators in the final phase of their residency.
During the first year residents undertake shifts in Internal Medicine, with one shift a month in Cardiology. In the second and third year they do shifts in clinical cardiology within the Accident and Emergency Department. The fourth and fifth year include shifts in the Coronary Care Unit and Haemodynamics.
In terms of training, there are sessions, seminars and courses, and residents’ participation in national and international congresses, conferences, seminars and courses is encouraged.
At the end of the cardiology residency, it is possible to continue training in research as part of the Riu Ortega programme for the Carlos III Health Institute. We also take part in undergraduate and postgraduate research staff training programmes run by the Generalitat of Catalonia’s Department for Education and Universities and the Ministry of Education.
Research activities of note include collaboration with the International Doctorate School on myocardial consequences, in cooperation with the University of Giessen (PROMISE), funded by the German organisation DFG and BIOCAT.
Why should you specialise at Vall d’Hebron?
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