Hadassah Medical Center

The organization «Hadassah» was founded in New York more than 100 years ago, and it laid the foundation for the history of Israeli medicine development. Today, the Hadassah Har Hatzofim and Hadassah Ein Kerem campuses are the largest medical centers in the Israeli capital and are the most modern in the world. When the departments are completely full, the staff is organized that for each patient there will be 1 doctor, 2 nurses, and 2 orderlies — to pay sufficient attention to each patient.

The hospital is famous for its narrow-profile divisions and specialists, having more departments than in the largest world’s clinics. Thus, several doctors make up your treatment plan even if you have a problem only with one organ. And in case of complications, you can be sure that Hadassah has the necessary equipment and experienced doctors because the annual budget of the clinic is more than $400 million.

Besides treating patients on a high level, Hadassah also educates doctors and examines the human body. Clinic professors have published thousands of scientific papers — these are centuries of research in all areas of medicine. Doctors at the Hadassah Clinic not only follow the protocols and recommendations but develop them for other Israeli specialists.

The history of the Hadassah Clinic is the history of Israeli medicine.

Hadassah Medical Center was an innovator in the following:

• Kidney transplant;
• Heart and lung transplant;
• Da Vinci robotic surgery;
• Bone marrow transplant (BMT);
• Robotic spinal surgery;
• Nano-knife for prostate cancer;
• A vaccine for melanoma and Crohn’s disease;
• The world’s first computer hip replacement (Israel has been practicing hip replacement for almost 40 years, while other countries were still learning arthroplasty).

Hadassah is the first clinic to install and apply most of the medical technologies.

• The only clinic in Israel that has its own accelerator for creating rapidly decaying particles used in contrasts of PET-CT. Any rare and specific contrast can be created for an examination of each patient on the spot in a short time.
• Several Da Vinci robots, including the latest Da Vinci XI, the most accurate of the existing ones. Robotic surgeries have been performed here for more than 10 years.
• SonoView ultrasound contrast — can be used instead of CT with contrast for repeated cancer examinations. Thus, they reduce the radiation load on the body.
• Reveal LINQ system — allow you to accurately diagnose arrhythmia and ischemia in the heart muscle and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.
• The thulium laser is the best of the existing medical lasers, it is used for fast and accurate surgeries on the prostate, skin, and brain.
• Synergo system — is an advanced, minimally invasive technology for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
• Radiation therapy on Novalis TrueBeam STx— a computer-controlled 6D system automatically moves in 6 planes and delivers 2 times more radiation to the tumor, compared with the previous generation. Radiation therapy is now safer and more effective.
• Mazor Renaissance — is a system for robotic neurosurgery of the spine — allows highly accurate, gentle surgeries for spinal curvature, fractures, hernias, and tumors.
• Artis zeego multi-axis robotic scanning system — allows you to automatically monitor surgeries on the brain, spine, and heart in 3D. The best image quality gives control of the result of the intervention during the surgery, and not after it.
• The neurosurgical microscope Carl Zeiss Kinevo 900 is the most advanced device for brain surgeries.
• The latest PET + CT device Discovery MI was installed in 2018 — it is 1.7 times more accurate than the previous one and is able to detect distant metastases with a thickness of 5 human hairs in any part of the body.

Inside the hospital there is a separate oncology institute named after Moshe Sharett. According to the doctors, a third of foreign patients coming for treatment in Hadassah have the wrong diagnosis.

Examination in Hadassah to get an accurate diagnosis:

• High definition imaging — an MRI scan of 1.5 T or a CT scan of 128 sections shows tumors several peas thick, and 3 T and 256 cf. identify tumors with a thickness of several hairs.
• New contrast agents — allow you to accurately assess the structure of tumors with ultrasound, CT, and MRI, and radiopharmaceuticals for PET + CT show metabolism in cancer cells.
• Genetic tests InVitae, Caris Target Now, and Foundation One are the most advanced cancer diagnostic methods.
• Oncological mutations in human genes are shown before the tumor itself is found. Comparison of the genes of cancer and healthy cells are used to make an accurate diagnosis, assess the aggressiveness of the disease, and select the right treatment tactics.
• A wide panel of modern tumor markers — PCA3 is 2.5 times more accurate than the PSA marker in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Hadassah uses modern markers for all types of cancer.
• High-precision biopsy — a sampling of a tumor has been performed under the control of ultrasound and MRI for more than 10 years. The needle hits exactly the target, the procedure is faster and less traumatic, because the first attempt is enough.

Since the Hadassah Cancer Institute is a world-class scientific center, the most modern medicines and procedures are available to patients, such as:

• HIPEC high-temperature intraperitoneal chemotherapy — allows treating peritoneal carcinomatosis, which was considered a fatal diagnosis
• Organ-preserving surgery — endoscopic and robotic surgeries, laser and ultrasound knives, online navigation systems, all this allow saving lives not making patients disabled
• The safest radiation therapy Cyberknife and TrueBeam STx radiate a tumor 2 times more efficiently without damaging healthy tissues
• PRRT receptor target irradiation with Lutetium-177 is a unique method of treating prostate, stomach, and lung cancer metastases.

According to statistics, mobility resumes in 92% of patients treated in Hadassah. The hospital is accredited by the Computer-assisted orthopedic surgery CAOS and is the only one in Israel to be part of the international society of orthopedic clinics ISOC. The head of the orthopedics department is Professor Meir Liebergall. He was the first in the world to perform endoprosthetic under the control of digital navigation.

Unique treatments that are available at the Hadassah Clinic:

• Spinal surgery by Renaissance and SpineAssist robots under the control of the Spine Navigation navigation system and Artis Zeego robotic tracking. The equipment allows you to save from disability with severe injuries of the spine, remove inoperable tumors, and correct the curvature.
• GPS + Wi-Fi iAssist Knee knee implant installation system helps to accurately install the prosthesis, minimize the invasiveness of the procedure, and the risk of bone atrophy — the maximum implant life.
• Phage therapy — doctors introduce a modified virus that kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause osteomyelitis. Due to this method, there is no need for amputation.

The team of doctors has vast experience — every day 2 to 5 patients undergo joints replacement.

The hospital has hybrid operating rooms — rooms equipped for the use of MRI and CT directly in the operating room. This helps to perform surgeries on a working heart with minor injuries. Valve replacement surgeries are performed through an injection in the reed, and coronary artery bypass grafting is performed on a Da Vinci robot. Cardiothoracic surgeon David Planer, the first doctor in Israel who performed surgery for aortic aneurysm with the Nexus system in 2018, works in the department. The procedure took place on a working heart without opening the chest.

The first BMT was performed at the Hadassah Clinic more than 40 years ago. Since then, more than 4 thousand procedures have been performed here. In 2018, Hadassah’s BMT department became the first one to get JACIE accreditation from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and set a record for the number of BMT in children — more than 70 a year. In 2019, a new children’s division was opened.

The head of the BMT department is Professor Polina Stepensky — a doctor with 20 years of experience, recognized as one of the best doctors in Israel (Forbes 2018). She is a member of the European and American BMT community.

Dr. Irina Zaydman is the head of the children’s division. Over the 17 years of work, she performed more than 400 procedures.

Due to these factors, the Hadassah Medical Center achieved a uniquely high success of the procedure: 95% for patients with a fully compatible donor.