To provide the most advanced surgical care, Hadassah’s Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery has been acquiring sophisticated equipment and instruments, including a state-of-the-art heart-lung machine that can observe coagulation antibodies – the only machine of its kind in Israel. The new machine is better suited to the human body’s physiological system so that the patient experiences far fewer adverse side affects. Other new equipment allows the Department to expand its minimally-invasive surgical procedures. More than 700 new items have been purchased in recent months.
Since the beginning of 2008, there have been significant advances in Hadassah’s Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and a dramatic rise in the number of patients undergoing surgery – a 45 percent increase in adults and a 48 percent increase in children.
This coincides with the appointment of Prof. Oz Shapira, who became head of the Department in January. He created a multidisciplinary team of nurses, internists, social workers, physiotherapists, anesthetists and technicians that collaborates with other Hadassah departments and external experts. Hospitals from around Israel refer patients to the Department of Cardio Surgery at Hadassah-Ein Kerem for complicated surgery.
Among its other innovations, the department has adopted the American Society of Thoracic Surgeons' quality control database, an important research and quality control tool. Using the database, physicians can analyze data on the use of new equipment and assess risk factors.
Concurrently, Dr. Uzi Izhar a senior surgeon in the department has created a new educational program to train medical personnel in the use of the new equipment and update their medical skills.
Members of the department are also engaged in three major research projects: The effect of air pollution on heart function; why venal implants develop a block faster than arterial implants after a bypass operation; and the hereditary factors in heart valve diseases.