Each week, MMG senior team member Sara Gezdari meets one of the distinguished surgeons and specialists working with hospitals in the My Medical Gateway network. We talk about their lives, careers, specialist expertise and approach to medicine — and discover more about the people behind the white coats.
This week, Sara meets Dr. Brígida Martínez Vidal, Consultant Otolaryngologist and ENT specialist at Hospital HM Nou Delfos in Barcelona. With more than two decades of clinical experience, Dr Martínez Vidal treats both adults and children and has particular expertise in rhinology, sinus surgery, sleep disorders and head and neck surgery.
Sara Gezdari: You studied medicine here in Barcelona. What first attracted you to becoming a doctor — and particularly to ENT?
Dr. Brígida Martínez Vidal: Medicine gives you the opportunity to combine science with something profoundly human: helping an individual person solve a problem that may be having a major effect on their life.
ENT particularly appealed to me because it is an extraordinarily varied specialty. We treat hearing, breathing, voice, balance, sleep and swallowing, as well as diseases affecting the head and neck. It combines medical diagnosis with very precise surgery, and you can often make a very tangible difference to a patient’s everyday quality of life.
Sara: You trained at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. How important was that experience?
Dr. Brigida Martínez Vidal: Very important. After graduating in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona, I undertook my specialist residency in Otolaryngology at Hospital Clínic.
Training in a major teaching hospital exposes you to a very broad range of conditions, including complex cases. It teaches you not only surgical technique but also the importance of multidisciplinary medicine, careful diagnosis and making treatment decisions based upon the individual patient.
Sara: What are the conditions you most frequently treat today?
Dr Martínez Vidal: My practice covers the full spectrum of ENT conditions, but I have developed particular experience in rhinology and disorders affecting the nose and sinuses.
Patients may come to us because they cannot breathe properly through their nose, suffer repeatedly from sinusitis or have a deviated septum. Depending upon the diagnosis, treatment can include functional septoplasty, endoscopic sinus surgery or radiofrequency reduction of the turbinates.
I also see patients with hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, chronic ear problems, voice disorders and dysphonia, as well as patients experiencing chronic snoring or obstructive sleep apnoea.
Sara: Many people probably underestimate how much an ENT condition can affect everyday life.
Dr Martínez Vidal: Absolutely. Being unable to breathe properly, sleeping badly, experiencing persistent dizziness or struggling to hear can affect almost everything else a person does.
Successful treatment isn’t simply about correcting an anatomical problem. The objective is to improve the patient’s quality of life.
Sara: You also work in head and neck surgery. What does that involve?
Dr Martínez Vidal: It includes the investigation and treatment of benign and malignant tumours affecting areas including the larynx, throat, thyroid and salivary glands.
These can obviously be worrying diagnoses for patients. It is therefore especially important that they understand what we have found, what treatment is appropriate and what they can expect. Good communication is an essential part of good medicine.
Sara: You treat children as well as adults. Does that require a different approach?
Dr Martínez Vidal: Very much so. Children can be frightened by an unfamiliar medical environment, and parents are understandably concerned too.
We commonly treat conditions including recurrent tonsillitis, enlarged tonsils and adenoids and glue ear. The clinical objective may be straightforward, but how you communicate with the child and family matters enormously.
Sara: What can an international patient coming to Hospital HM Nou Delfos expect?
Dr Martínez Vidal: Barcelona has a long tradition of high-quality medicine and Hospital HM Nou Delfos provides specialists with access to modern diagnostic and surgical facilities within a multidisciplinary hospital environment.
For somebody travelling for treatment, preparation is particularly important. Existing diagnostic information can be reviewed, the patient’s condition and proposed treatment discussed and the different stages of their care explained clearly.
Digital consultations can also be extremely useful. They allow us to communicate with patients remotely and can make geographical distance much less important than it once was.
Sara: Has technology changed ENT surgery significantly during your career?
Dr Martínez Vidal: Considerably. Modern imaging, endoscopic techniques and increasingly precise surgical equipment allow us to diagnose and treat many conditions with greater accuracy.
Endoscopic sinus surgery is a good example. Technology allows the surgeon to work very precisely within a complex anatomical area. But technology remains a tool. Experience, clinical judgement and selecting the appropriate treatment for each patient remain fundamental.
Sara: After more than 20 years in medicine, what still gives you the greatest professional satisfaction?
Dr Martínez Vidal: Seeing the difference treatment can make to somebody’s life. A patient may finally be able to breathe comfortably, sleep properly, hear better or overcome a condition that has troubled them for years.
Every patient is different, which means medicine never becomes routine. There is always another person to listen to and another problem to solve.
Sara: Finally, what would you say to a British patient considering travelling to Barcelona for ENT treatment?
Dr Martínez Vidal: Ask questions and make sure you understand your diagnosis, your proposed procedure and your recovery. Travelling abroad should never mean compromising on communication or continuity of care.
Patients should feel confident in the hospital and specialist they have chosen and comfortable asking anything they need to know. The best treatment journey begins with a well-informed patient.
Considering ENT treatment or corrective surgery?
Explore Dr. Brígida Martínez Vidal’s treatments at Hospital HM Nou Delfos in Barcelona, compare your options and prices, and start your treatment journey with My Medical Gateway today.
Find your treatment at https://www.mymedicalgateway.com/ and discover whether Barcelona could be the right choice for you.
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