The Clinical Immunology Unit at Tel Aviv Medical Center treats a wide range of conditions and diseases related to the immune system, ranging from immune deficiencies characterized by a tendency to recurrent infections to disorders associated with autoimmunity – a condition in which the immune system attacks the body's own organs.
The unit includes dedicated outpatient clinics for adults and children, a day hospitalization unit, and a laboratory.
The unit provides clinical consultations and laboratory services to various hospital departments. The clinic is open to anyone requiring consultation regarding immune system disorders, evaluation of a tendency to recurrent infections, and treatment and follow-up of autoimmune diseases.
The unit also operates a day hospitalization service that enables outpatient administration of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), as well as other treatments and examinations.
The immune system is one of the most important systems in the human body. Its primary function is to protect us from pathogens in our environment and keep us healthy. It is one of the most complex systems in the human body, with a continuous capacity for learning. Through its various cellular components, it constantly monitors the body's environment and, when necessary, acts to generate a rapid and effective immune response and develop immunological memory.
For the immune system to function properly, various regulatory mechanisms are required to ensure that it operates in a controlled and precise manner. Therefore, abnormal immune system activity may lead to a tendency to recurrent infections, as well as significant autoimmune manifestations, which in many cases can be difficult to treat.
The second challenge lies in treating immunodeficiency disorders. To determine the optimal treatment approach, modern medicine relies on studies involving large numbers of patients. However, when dealing with rare diseases, such as immunodeficiency disorders, such studies are often unavailable, and treatment decisions are based on an understanding of immune system mechanisms and experience gained from individual cases.
In addition, the combination of a tendency to infections on the one hand and autoimmune inflammatory manifestations on the other sometimes requires a combination of "opposing treatments" – those that support immune system activity and those that suppress excessive immune activity.
Clinical immunology focuses on patients with deficient or uncontrolled immune activity and uses insights gained from these unique patients to understand the importance of the various components of the immune system. Through these patients, we seek to understand the central processes underlying their diseases and offer appropriate treatment, even in cases where the condition is not caused by a primary genetic defect.
Accurate and early diagnosis requires a combination of a high level of clinical suspicion and targeted laboratory investigations aimed at evaluating the functional activity of the various components of the immune system.