Dear Friends,
If one thing underscored the key to our recent international accreditation success, it was the importance of teamwork. Our multidisciplinary teams have always united together for the health of our patients, and with the accreditation process, we had the opportunity to flex our collaborative muscles in new ways. It is with great pride that I also recognize the teamwork of our donors, whose fellowship, day in and day out, helps drive our medical advancements and create a comfortable, effective environment for patients. Thanks to your energy and commitment, we hope to complete important projects on the docket in pursuit of our essential patient care mission:
- Renovating several Dana-Dwek Children’s Hospital inpatient units
- Expanding and rebuilding the children’s intensive care unit
- Building a playground for the children treated at Dana-Dwek
- Purchasing linear accelerators for patients of the Radiotherapy Institute
- Procuring three new MRI machines for advanced patient imaging and research
- Building new operating rooms
- Constructing nursing staff apartments to help recruit and retain nursing talent
We hope that with your help, we can achieve these goals. Wishing you and your family a happy Passover!
Ronit Blum
CEO
The Association of Friends
Events
Nobel Laureate Prof. Michael Levitt Joins the US Western Region Board of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
In March 2014, US Friends of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center proudly hosted Prof. Michael Levitt, the recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and new member of the US Western Region Board of the Medical Center, directed by Dr. Karin Weiner-Lachmi. Prof. Michael Levitt addressed a group of over 100 local Israeli and Jewish community leaders with a fascinating talk on structural biology and its many intriguing medical applications.
Medical Center department heads and researchers also had the honor of attending a lecture by Prof. Levitt during his subsequent visit to Tel Aviv.
Donations
It is with great appreciation that we recognize these generous donations from our dear friends:
Nathan Steer Adler, of blessed memory, bequeathed about $2.3 million (8 million shekels) for the purchase of a linear accelerator to improve patient care and comfort.
Rina Aharoni, of blessed memory, a longtime friend of the Medical Center, died suddenly at the age of 70. She bequeathed about $4.3 million (15 million shekels) to procure a new MRI system and renovate the pediatric hospitalization ward at Dana-Dwek Children’s Hospital.
Sagol Center for Brain Informatics
The center is being built thanks to the generous donation of Sammy Sagol and the leadership of Prof. Talma Hendler. The center laboratory will focus on integrating computational methods with brain imaging to define human brain operating systems.
The New Rosa and Henry Landschaft Outpatient Ophthalmology Clinic
The Rosa and Henry Landschaft Outpatient Ophthalmology Clinic, which opened several months ago, makes care so much more pleasant for patients and easier for caregivers. Under the leadership of Prof. Anat Loewenstein, Ophthalmology Department Director, the clinic serves about 300 patients a day. In 2013 alone, about 18,000 new patients received treatment.
Rosa Landschaft and her husband Henry were longtime supporters of the Medical Center—with a legacy of more than 20 years of philanthropy. Over this time, they sponsored the Geriatric Department, upgraded hospitalization wards, and procured life-saving cardiac catheterization equipment.
Distinction for medical excellence
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center awarded international accreditation: the Gold Seal of Approval® for quality and safety
In January 2014, the Medical Center earned prestigious accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), the global organization that certifies hospitals for quality and safety. This accreditation is the most stringent certificate awarded to hospitals throughout the world, reflecting the highest standard of excellence in medical care.
The Medical Center passed the survey with flying colors—obtaining an outstandingly high rating; from the 1300+ clinical and management measures evaluated, the Medical Center passed over 1280! This achievement is exceptional according to worldwide standards for academic medical centers and certainly superior according to Israeli hospital standards. JCI accolades at the final survey-findings presentation are testimony to this achievement. Angela Norton, the JCI Survey Team Leader, drove this point home by stating, “In six years of accrediting organizations, and I do three organizations a month, that’s an incredible score!”
With this achievement, the entire staff will continue its commitment to the principles of excellence—to provide the highest quality, safe and effective medical care to all who seek it.
What’s new?
The Jacob Ballas Singapore Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiology Institute has a new home
The Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiology Institute has moved to its new facility in the Sammy Ofer Heart Building.
The institute is home to quality rehabilitative care, with modern fitness equipment tailored to the needs of patients following surgery, catheterization or other procedures. The institute’s management describes rehabilitation, saying, “Under heart rhythm monitoring, patients perform physical activity supervised by the medical team of cardiologists and specially trained and certified cardiology nurses. Today, we know that physical activity extends life and improves quality of life for people with or without heart conditions—regardless of gender, age and heart function.”
Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research marks 20 years
The Adelson Clinic recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary with an event honoring clinic founder and chairperson, Dr. Miriam Adelson. Attendees included Dr. Adelson’s husband Sheldon Adelson, Prof. Shaul Schreiber, Director of Psychiatric Services, Prof. Gabi Barbash, CEO of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and others responsible for the clinic’s success. Dr. Adelson is a subspecialist in chemical dependency and is a recognized expert in drug abuse and addiction.
The clinic treats about 330 patients addicted to opiates (without time limitations). Since the clinic’s founding, about 800 people have been treated. The clinic’s care objective is to minimize the health and social impact caused by addiction and the lifestyles tied to street drug use, and to enable addicts to function reasonably at work, in social settings, and with family. The clinic serves as a best-practice model for opiate addiction care in Israel and abroad.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) offers promise to patients and caregivers alike
The Neurosurgery Department recently began piloting a radio frequency ID program. The radio frequency waves emitted from the patient’s RFID bracelet track the patient’s movement in the hospital in real time. It enables better management of at-risk patients, such as mentally confused patients who could wander off and get lost.
The system can also support care efficiency during heavy activity workloads; enable quick, correct patient identification; and promote time tracking in the emergency room, operating room, etc.
After the pilot results are in, the hospital with evaluate whether to implement the system throughout the facility.
Imaging Division CT scanner upgrade provides speed, efficiency and improved patient safety
The Imaging Division recently procured the most advanced CT scanner in its class. The Philips iCT machine can perform ultra-fast scans—acquiring 256 “slices,” or views, in one rotation.
This acquisition was made with the help of the Wolfson Family Charitable Trust, which has been generously donating essential equipment to the Medical Center for years.
The department also upgraded 2 other existing CT machines. All three scanners use iDose technology, which lowers radiation substantially without impacting the image, and improves image quality in cases where reducing radiation exposure is not necessary.
The Medical Center’s iCT scanner was one of only 10 units in the world that participated in research and testing before the product was released.
The advanced scanners have benefits in addition to their speed, effectiveness and reduced radiation exposure. Their higher quality images offer advantages to many medical disciplines. For pediatric imaging, for example, the scanners helped improve treatment protocols.
Cardiac CT for non-invasive diagnosis of heart disease
The Cardiothoracic Imaging Unit recently installed a new cardiac CT scanner that images the whole heart in less than five seconds. This 256-detector-row scanner delivers high-resolution images of the coronary arteries with significantly less radiation exposure compared to older CT technology.
Dr. Galit Aviram, Head of the Cardiothoracic Imaging Unit, says that cardiology and radiology medical associations recommend using coronary artery CTs for patients with new or recurrent chest pain who carry low or intermediate risk of coronary artery disease.
Detection of early coronary artery disease is a promising application for this CT device, with the potential to start treatment earlier and prevent disease progression.
Linear accelerators accelerate cancer patients’ care
The Medical Center’s Radiotherapy Institute has installed the first of four new linear accelerators. The new TRUEBEAM is cutting-edge external-beam radiotherapy technology for treating cancer patients. The institute has developed a sophisticated logistical plan to bring the new “linacs” on line while simultaneously de-commissioning the outgoing machines—without compromising on the number of patients treated.
The Head of the Radiotherapy Institute, Prof. Ben Corn, emphasizes “the speed of delivery is not just a technological marvel, but also offers direct benefit to patients since they lie on the table for treatment for a fraction of the time that was needed in the past.”
First implant of Portico, the innovative second-generation heart valve
Portico, the innovative second-generation heart valve for treating aortic valve stenoses, was implanted in a patient for the first time in Israel in February 2014 at the Medical Center by Dr. Ariel Finkelstein, Director of Cardiac Catheterization.
Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic heart valve that restricts blood flow. To compensate for this problem, the heart needs to contract harder to pump blood into the aorta. Severe narrowing can cause chest pain, fainting, or shortness of breath, and could lead to heart failure. Aortic valve stenosis affects approximately 5% of the age 65+ population, and is caused most often from calcification of the valve.
Portico is the first fully resheathable and repositionable valve, allowing better implant control and maximum accuracy. The valve functions immediately upon deployment so that blood keeps flowing without interruption. Portico is designed for minimal protrusion into the left heart ventricle to mitigate rhythm complications.
New medical services
Pioneering treatment of depression using a transcranial magnetic stimulation helmet
The Ambulatory Psychiatry Clinic, headed by Dr. Michael Krasnoshtein, has introduced a new service for treatment-resistant depression using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The Brainsway TMS helmet uses an innovative coil structure that maximizes electrical stimulation of deep brain regions without invasive procedures, anesthesia or pain.
Depression can be a serious illness with difficult physiological, emotional and cognitive influences. About 10% of Israelis experience clinical depression during their lifetime. Many patients don’t respond sufficiently to drug therapy or they experience intolerable side effects.
The helmet is designed for these types of patients who have intense depression. The treatment is not suitable for people with pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators since the electromagnetic field can disrupt their operation.
Early Arthritis Detection Clinic helps prevent disease progression
Rheumatoid arthritis is a type of disabling inflammatory arthritis that affects about 1% of the population. Two cornerstones of successful treatment are early diagnosis and initiation of highly effective anti-rheumatic medications and strategies to avoid irreversible structural joint damage. A delay of even three months from diagnosis to treatment can be harmful in the long term. Although this fact underscores the need to fast-track diagnosis and treatment, months-long rheumatology clinic appointment scheduling delays have prevented rapid response to early symptoms.
With a focus on quick appointment scheduling, the Early Arthritis Detection Clinic, headed by Dr. Uri Arad, provides prompt evaluation and diagnosis, as well as treatment initiation for patients with early-stage arthritis.
Senior rheumatologists treat patients in the clinic and also conduct proactive outreach meetings with primary care physicians to raise awareness on the importance of early referral and promote the early arthritis clinic.
Dr. Arad conducts research through the Adopt a Researcher program.
The Center for Aesthetic Medicine: a dream takes shape
The Center for Aesthetic Medicine, on par with world renowned centers, offers the complete range of the most progressive surgeries, skin treatments and laser procedures. Center physicians are specialists from the Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery Department and Dermatology Department. The center features highly advanced technologies and infrastructures in a full-scale hospital environment.
Popular surgeries include tummy tuck; liposuction; breast surgeries for women and men; ear pinning and shaping; chin repositioning; and nose reshaping, as well as eyelid lifting; facial, limb, thigh and neck skin tightening; surplus skin removal; and wrinkle smoothing and filling using fat transfer.
Skin and laser treatment services offer scar ablation following surgery, trauma or acne; stretch mark reduction; skin damage treatment; skin pigmentation lightening; dynamic wrinkle (laugh line) smoothing; fixed wrinkle filling; skin peeling; and spider vein treatment; as well as care for excessive sweating.
The Sleep Disorder Clinic helps patients rest easy
Sleep disorders are quite common; between 20%-30% of the Western population suffers from one or more sleep disorders, with typical effects being tiredness and reduced functioning, but also potentially serious health problems, including high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.
The newly founded Sleep Disorder Clinic, directed by sleep disorder specialist Dr. Rivi Tauman, diagnoses and treats adult sleep problems, such as difficulty falling asleep and waking up, tiredness, chronic sleepiness, snoring, recurrent choking, obstructive sleep apnea, and unwanted behaviors during sleep, including sleepwalking and excessive movement.
Therapy to quiet sleep-state breathing, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), medications, and behavioral changes to improve sleep quality are all interventions considered by the clinic. Additional treatment options to address breathing during sleep include ear, nose and throat surgery and targeted dental surgery by the Center for Oral Health.
The Psycho-Dermatology Clinic: putting your best face forward
The new Psycho-Dermatology Clinic focuses on the well-known connection between the skin and the mind—specifically, dermatologic disorders or diseases caused or exacerbated by stress, depression, anxiety, or other psychological factors.
Leveraging a holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment, the clinic addresses the psychological impact of skin diseases on all aspects of life. This multidisciplinary clinic pairs a psycho-dermatologist and a medical psychologist for co-treatment with the patient. Due to condition complexity, treatment demands specialized clinical skills and typically requires extended clinical sessions.
Dr. Edith Orion, who established the field of psycho-dermatology in Israel, joined the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in order to launch the clinic.
The Pigmentation Clinic: beauty is not just skin deep
Inaugurated recently within the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Department of Dermatology, the Pigmentation Clinic treats conditions that cause variations in skin tone—hypo- or hyper-pigmentations.
According to Dr. Mor Pavlovsky, Clinic Director, “The chronic development, location, aesthetic disturbance, and disruption to functioning that these conditions cause cloud everyday activity. They can impact self-esteem and be the source of frustration if the patient is not treated. Pigmentation treatment can be complex, composed of a range of topical, physical (phototherapy and laser care) and systemic therapies".
Prof. Eli Sprecher, the Director of the Department of Dermatology, comments, “The Pigmentation Clinic was established to provide comprehensive solutions to the problem. The clinic, which is the only one of its kind in Israel, offers a broad range of diagnostics and treatment".
Gastrointestinal Oncology Clinic: digestive treatment for oncology patients
Many cancer patients suffer from chronic digestive-system problems due to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, abdominal and pelvic cancer patients are susceptible to organ injuries. Despite significant impairment to patient comfort and well-being, these afflictions are frequently overlooked or seen as a necessary price to pay for treatment.
The Gastrointestinal Oncology Clinic, unique in Israel, spotlights these chronic gastro problems and provides accessible care for those needing it most. The clinic is directed by its founder, Dr. Nathan Gluck, MD, PhD, a senior faculty member in the Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, who has a special interest in cancer care.
As Dr. Gluck states, “This clinic is directly aligned with our vision to address the full spectrum of challenges that cancer patients experience. Therefore, in addition to a cure to their disease, we aim to provide our patients with the best possible quality of life during and after their treatment.”
Clinical trials
Do patients in a vegetative state "recognize" loved ones?
Patients in a vegetative state are awake, breathe spontaneously and appear to have sleep-wake cycles. Unfortunately, they show no signs of awareness to themselves or the environment.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures blood flow in the brain, detects brain activity and can measure patient responses to different stimuli. Using fMRI, doctors have found that a small percentage of vegetative patients can perform cognitive tasks on command, like imagining playing a sport.
Under the leadership of Functional Brain Center Director, Prof. Talma Hendler, Dr. Haggai Sharon and fellow Medical Center researchers have shown that the brains of patients in a vegetative state react to pictures of friends and family members very differently from pictures of strangers. These findings indicate for the first time that vegetative-state patients can detect, register and categorize complex visual data and associate it to memories.
Next, the research team hopes to study how regions of the brain interact in response to familiarity cues, with the goal of finding innovative treatments for patients in a vegetative state.
Making headway in understanding and treating breast cancer
Despite advances in metastatic breast cancer treatment, the median survival rate of this common disease is about two years. Breast cancer studies work to identify the mechanisms involved in the malignant breast-cell transformation, which could propel the development of novel disease therapies. Two recent project advancements in Dr. Ido Wolf’s laboratory include:
- Identification of klotho as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer: The klotho protein plays an important role in various physiological activities. Researchers found high expression of klotho in normal breast cells but reduced expression in breast cancer cells. Researchers also found that restoring klotho expression can inhibit breast cancer cell growth. Analysis revealed that klotho modulates major signaling pathways in breast cancer, including the insulin pathway. Therefore, klotho can serve as both a prognostic factor and a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer.
- The correlation between diabetes mellitus and breast cancer: Researchers found that diabetic breast cancer patients presented with a farther progressed tumor stage and a larger sized tumor than their non-diabetic counterparts More often, their tumors were also hormone-receptor negative (i.e., more difficult to treat). These results suggest that at diagnosis, diabetes mellitus is associated with negative prognostic factors. Researchers also identified significant correlation between diabetes mellitus and breast cancer risk.
Following these discoveries, researchers are exploring a role for exendin-4, a novel diabetes therapy, as a potential therapy for breast cancer.
A round of applause…
Medical Center Oncology Division selected for Phase I Novartis cancer drug trials
Novartis Oncology selected the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Oncology Division as the first Israeli center to conduct Phase I research for oncology translational medicine, including first-in-human trials. Phase I trials use a minimal number of patients who have exhausted other treatment options. The Novartis medications studied are on the cutting edge of cancer therapy and are only available through clinical trials.
Prof. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff receives the 2013 Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award
The Gerontological Society of America awarded the excellence award to Prof. Hausdorff, the Director of the Laboratory for Gait Analysis and Neurodynamics, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to senior citizen rehabilitation. Prof. Hausdorff is a faculty member of the Sackler Medical School and the Sagol School for Brain Science at Tel Aviv University, and a lecturer at Harvard University. He is a pioneer in movement disorder research, biomechanics, aging, and human gait investigation.
Hausdorff and his team developed new approaches to treat gait, rehabilitate walking and decrease the risk of falling, including a treadmill-based training simulation program.
Prof. Zelig Eshhar earns European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Outstanding Achievement Award for 2013
Prof. Eshhar, Chair of Immunology Research at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, earned this prestigious award for his many important contributions to gene and cell therapy.
Appointments
- Prof. Ori Elkayam has been appointed Head of the Rheumatology Institute, replacing Prof. Dan Caspi.
- Dr. Orit Golan was selected as Acting Director of the Mammography Institute, taking over for retiring Dr. Fani Sperber.
- Dr. Iris Dotan was nominated as Head of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center in the Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases.
- Dr. Debra West is the new Manager of the Surgical Emergency Unit, replacing Dr. David Alajem.
- Dr. Gadi Lotan was appointed Manager of the Pediatric Surgery Department. He replaced Prof. Izhak Vinograd.
- Prof. Livia Kapusta was promoted to Director of the Pediatric Cardiology Unit, taking over for Dr. Shmuel Diamant who retired.
- Dr. Ori Rogowski was nominated as Director of Internal Medicine Department C.
- Dr. Ronit Lubetzky is the Acting Director of the Pediatric Hospitalization Ward.
- Prof. Dror Mandel, the Manager of the Lis Maternity Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, is also serving as Acting Director of Dana-Dwek Children's Hospital.
- Dr. Irit Avivi Matza was nominated as Head of the Division of Hematology. She replaced Prof. Elizabeth Naparstek.
- Dr. Ron Ram was appointed Head of Bone Marrow Transplantation in the Hematology Department.
- Dr. Ido Nachmany was appointed as the Director of General Surgery Department in the Division of Surgery.
