The Hepatocarcinoma Functional Unit is a multidisciplinary organizational structure made up of professionals (doctors, nurses) involved in the diagnosis and treatment of this pathology. It is intended to efficiently regulate the different health care processes by which the patient transitions from being diagnosed to the conclusion of the different treatments he/she requires. Treatment of hepatocarcinoma depends on the stage of the tumor and may include surgical procedures (liver resection, transplantation), interventional radiology procedures (radiofrequency, arterial chemoembolization, radioembolization), stereotactic radiotherapy, and systemic treatments with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. Often the same patient has to go through different specialists and different treatments. For this reason, the close collaboration of the professionals involved is essential in order to facilitate the patient this itinerary for their oncological process by making an efficient and rational use of the resources we have in our center.
The primary objective of the unit is to offer excellence care to our patients with hepatocarcinoma, promote research in this field and place the Hospital de Sant Pau as a reference center in this pathology.
To achieve this objective, it is proposed to:
- Define and establish an efficient circuit from diagnostic suspicion to reduce the time required to reach the certainty diagnosis.
- Facilitate complex decision-making in a consensual manner within the framework of the liver tumor committee.
- Improve healthcare circuits by avoiding the delay of the first visits and the application of the treatment that the patient requires.
- Maintain an updated health care protocol in our center (derived from clinical practice guidelines) and encourage adherence to it by reducing unnecessary variability.
- Promote the expert knowledge, training and teaching of both professionals and specialists in training and undergraduate students.
- Promote and facilitate research in this field.
- Systematically collect the activity carried out in each therapeutic field, according to quality indicators and their evaluation.
The Hepatocarcinoma Functional Unit is composed of members of different services and its coordinator is Dr. Adolfo Gallego (digestive pathology) and the secretary Dr. Paula Cerdà (Medical Oncology).
The participants of each service are listed below:
- Pathological anatomy service: Dr. Victoria Fuste; Dr. Justyna Szafranska
- General and Digestive Surgery Service: Dr. Santiago Sánchez-Cabús; Dr. Victor Molina; Dr. Belén Martín
- Diagnostic Imaging Service: Dr. Juan Carlos Pernas; Dr. Diana Hernández; Dr. M. Magdalena Menso; Dr. Sheila Alfonso; Dr. Rubén Guerrero; Dr. Jordi Villalba; Dr. Jorge Hernández
- Medical Oncology Service: Dr. Paula Cerdà; Dr. Raul Terés
- Radiotherapeutic Oncology Service: Dr. Josep Balart; Dr. Joan Carles Julià; Dr. Ana Soto
- Digestive Pathology Service: Dr. M. Àngels Escorsell; Dr. Berta Cuyàs, Dr. Adolfo Gallego;
- Nursing: Jorgina Serra