Treatment at Hospital Clínic

Patients with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) are treated in the Neonatology Department of the Clínic Institute of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology (ICGON). This department has professional experts for the diagnosis and treatment of FASD for both the healthcare setting and research fields.

The Local Government of Catalonia plans to recognise units with expertise in FASD, among them, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, including diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Diagnosis includes both classical clinical diagnosis by paediatricians and psychologists, as well as the use of an innovative diagnostic app. This app, VisualTEAF, was developed as part of the start-up, Psicoterapia VR, of which the Clínic is a partner.

Diagnosis is based on gathering clinical data, an expert paediatric assessment of the shape and size of the facial features and a standardised neurocognitive and behavioural psychological assessment in accordance with international criteria and protocols.

The Clínic is the only hospital that includes a clinical and research expert group in FASD. In addition, it is also the only one that has developed an innovative, diagnostic app and participates in the design and implementation of a specific treatment tool based on virtual reality.

Furthermore, the group actively collaborates in clinical and research projects alongside associations for relatives of patients with FASD (VisualTEAF). It has also collaborated with the Local Government of Catalonia, along with other hospitals in Barcelona, in the only study on the prevalence of FASD in children adopted from Eastern European countries.