The Department of Nephrology and Hypertension is an integral part of the Department of Internal Medicine. Its mission is to provide treatment and counseling to hospitalized patients, dialysis patients both in the hospital and the community, kidney transplant patients and outpatient clinics patients. Its medical activities include diagnosis, treatment and prevention in several areas including chronic and acute kidney diseases, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, hypertension, water and electrolytes homeostasis (including edemas), polyurea (excess of urination), renal failure and diabetes insipidus. The department also treats diseases relating to calcium and potassium homeostasis. This includes metabolic bone diseases such as osteomyelation, hyper-and hypo-parathyroidism. Diagnoses are perfomed by the department's physicians who utilize a variety of auxiliary tests.
Dialysis treatments are the responsibility of the department in which the patients are hospitalized, or part of an ambulatory framework, either at the Ein Kerem campus or in the "Hadassah Ziv" dialysis unit which located in the city center. The Outpatient Clinics house three specialized clinics - the Nephrology and Hypertension Clinic, the Pre-Dialysis Clinic and the Kidney Transplant Patients Clinic. These clinics see a of around 6000 visits annually.
The physicians at the Nephrology and Hypertension Clinic can treat a broad range of kidney diseases, and sees around 3000 patient annually. The clinic receives cases where the patient is suffering from protein or blood are found in the urine, repeated cases of kidney stones, electrolyte disorders and water in the blood, calcium balance disorders and phosphorus or the acid base balance of the blood. Moreover, the clinic provides treatment and follow-up for patients who have reduced kidney function. The department's outpatient clinics also provide advice and treatment for hypertension, including a blood pressure monitoring service that runs throughout the day and as an ambulatory unit.
The department operates a pre-dialysis clinic treating patients with advanced kidney failure. This clinic also provides instruction for patients regarding suitable nutrition and diets, treatments given intravenously (such as iron), the advice and choosing the right type of dialysis and the dialysis appropriate setting.
Kidney Transplant Patients Clinic provides long term follow-up (around 30 years) for patients who've undergone kidney transplants. The clinic is also involved in preparing candidates for a kidney transplant at our institution. About 350 patients are actively monitored in this clinic.
The Department of Nephrology serves as a center for research into metabolic bone diseases and calcium and phosporus blanance disorders. Bone density tests, ultrasound bone tests and osteoporosis tests are performed at the Osteoporosis Center located on the Mt. Scopus campus.
Head of Nephrology and Hypertension Services:
Dr. Michal Dranitzki Elhalel
Hadassah University Hospital, PO Box 12000
Jerusalem, Israel 91120
Email: [email protected]
Units
Bone and Mineral Metabolism, Director: Justin Silver
Bone Histomorphometry Laboratory (a section in Renal Laboratory), Director: Prof Joseph Foldes