The Hospital Clínic Cardiovascular Institute (ICCV) is made up of the Services of Cardiovascular Surgery, Angiology and Vascular Surgery, and Cardiology.

The ICCV has two Critical and Semi-critical Care Units, the Acute Cardiac Care Unit and the Cardiovascular Postoperative Unit. The Acute Cardiac Care Unit receives patients with acute cardiac diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, acute cardiac insufficiency, serious arrhythmias, or even patients who have recovered from sudden cardiac arrest. The Cardiovascular Postoperative Unit cares for patients who have undergone heart surgery (coronary bypass or heart valve surgery) or aortic surgery.

There are two conventional hospitalization wards, a day hospital and a diagnostic centre where echocardiograms, stress tests and the monitoring of heart rate control devices (pacemakers and defibrillators) are performed. The day hospital is a crosscutting structure at the ICCV where patients with cardiac insufficiency are cared for, as are patients who only need to spend a few hours in hospital for a diagnostic test or for minimally invasive treatment such as a catheterization, arrhythmia ablation or a pacemaker replacement, and do not need to be admitted as inpatients.

There is also a cardiovascular interventional area with 6 hybrid operating rooms where percutaneous cardiac intervention procedures (coronary, valve and arrhythmia) are carried out.

Finally, the ICCV has centralized consulting rooms in the building on Carrer Casanova. Moreover, the ICCV is responsible for cardiac care for 19 primary care teams in the Barcelona Esquerra Integrated Health Area (AISBE).

Diagnoses and treatments at the ICCV

The Institute offers a wide range of diagnostic methods and treatments to care for patients with diseases of the heart and the circulatory system. Around 5,000 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients are treated each year and over 900 cardiac interventions and 1,500 percutaneous interventions are performed.

The Cardiovascular Institute is a referral centre for the whole of Spain in terms of heart transplantation, mitral valve repair, pulmonary hypertension, inherited heart disease and adult congenital heart disease.

The Institute’s main lines of action are:

• Ischaemic heart disease. The ICCV is a referral centre for the Myocardial Infarction Network of Catalonia. It treats patients with acute coronary syndrome, chronic ischaemic heart disease, and those who require percutaneous intervention (stent) or surgical intervention (bypass).
• Valve diseases. The ICCV offers advanced diagnostic methods and percutaneous interventions (TAVI, mitral valve repair, percutaneous tricuspid valve repair, etc.) and surgical interventions (valve replacement surgery, mitral valve and tricuspid valve repair surgery, conventional or minimally invasive access, robotic surgery).
• Arrhythmias. At the ICCV, all types of heart rhythm disorders are treated, and the latest treatment techniques are available. Treatment is provided to patients with atrial and ventricular tachycardia and bradycardia who need ablations, pacemakers or implanted defibrillators.
• Cardiac insufficiency. This Unit provides the most advanced treatments for cardiac insufficiency including artificial hearts and heart transplants. However, care is taken of less advanced forms of heart failure.
• Adult congenital heart disease. It treats patients with congenital heart disease that are too old for paediatric care.
• Aortic pathologies. The ICCV provides comprehensive treatment for aortic pathologies with endoluminal and percutaneous techniques and open surgery with a multidisciplinary focus.
• Inherited heart diseases. The ICCV cares for patients and family members with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome and other genetic inherited diseases.
• Sports Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation. Works for the cardiac health of athletes in collaboration with the Catalan Sports Council (CCE) and FC Barcelona. Our knowledge about the adaptation of the heart to exercise and heart disease, allows us to apply the practice of exercise as a rehabilitative treatment in post-operative patients with heart disease, making a comprehensive programme of cardiac rehabilitation with exercise, nutritional habits and an educational approach.