Ignacio Morales

Healthcare

• Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine

  The Hospital Clínic Cardiovascular Institute (ICCV) is the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona’s healthcare area devoted to treating cardiovascular diseases.
• Cardiovascular Surgery

  The Cardiovascular Surgery Department is part of the Cardiovascular Institute and is responsible for cardiovascular care, research, teaching, and innovation in the field of surgery.

  In terms of healthcare, the Cardiovascular Surgery Department at the Hospital Clínic is one of the busiest centres in Spain, with more than 950 major cardiac surgeries each year, covering all surgical programmes in the specialty, including minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery, valve repair, atrial ablation, atrial fibrillation surgery, obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy surgery, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension surgery, ventricular assistance and ECMO, and heart transplantation.

  It is the cardiovascular surgery department with the most CSUR (Centre, Unit, or Reference Department) nominations by the Ministry of Health, with five: aortic valve repair, complex mitral valve repair, familial heart disease (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), congenital heart disease surgery in adults, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension surgery.

  Members of the Department also participate in various functional units at the Hospital, such as the Atrial Fibrillation Functional Unit and the Pulmonary Hypertension Functional Unit. Finally, it is worth noting the integration of congenital cardiovascular pathology through the Congenital Heart Disease Centre, in collaboration with the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.

  In terms of results, the Department has an annual complication rate that is between 20% and 30% lower than the European standard, as measured by EUROSCORE.