Gideon Weiss Simulator Center

The National Gideon Center Teromat Marius Nacht is a national center that offers surgeons and medical teams training, experiential practice and the acquisition of skills in various medical disciplines and procedures through advanced simulators that offer practices in various fields. Diverse courses and training programs are offered to medical teams from the Shamir Medical Center and hospitals throughout the country according to the team’s experience and level of professional training.
The simulator center in Shamir established and maintains a unique system for experimenting with surgeries on living tissue that does not exist in any medical center throughout the State of Israel, where doctors from all over the country experience working on a living body, pulsating blood vessels, working in an environment of body fluids with mobility in the abdominal organs.

Surgical mistakes at a high price – data that is important to know

• Studies prove that medical human errors occur in close to half of the surgical procedures, most of them during the surgical procedure itself.
• As a result of these mistakes, medical damage was caused to about 30% of the operated people and about 15% of the operated people who undergo a surgical procedure will die.
• Over half of these errors are the result of insufficient pre-operative practice which can be significantly reduced after significant training and practice in processes that do not endanger human life.
• Every year tens of thousands of surgical procedures are performed in Israel by about 1,000 surgeons, of which about 300 are interns who are taking their first steps in the field.
• Interns learn to perform surgical procedures by observing an experienced surgeon and following him: see one – do one, when he does very few procedures himself. This means that in real time patients may find themselves operated on by an inexperienced surgeon with insufficient training.

The Gideon Weiss Simulator Center offers training through a variety of simulators, including Lap Mentor for practicing performing simple to complex laparoscopic procedures, GI Mentor for practicing performing procedures in the digestive system, and Orth Mentor, which enables practicing performing orthopedic surgeries. The center will provide training for 300 interns (100 new each year) and another 100 surgeons from various disciplines (gastronomy, urology, orthopedics and more) every year. The training at the center will be a mandatory experience for every intern interested in becoming a surgeon in Israel.

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The Institute for Allergy, Immunology and Children’s Lungs – an international center of excellence

In 2020, in an extraordinary achievement, the World Allergy Organization (WAO) recognized the Institute of Allergy, Immunology and Children’s Lungs at the Shamir Medical Center as a World Allergy Organization Center of Excellence for the years 2020-2023 that also provides excellence in education, research and training for the future generation of experts in the field of allergy, asthma and clinical immunology .

The institute headed by Prof. Arnon Elitzur brings together a wide range of services, diagnosis and treatment of food allergy, drug allergy, allergic rhinitis, allergy to insect bites, asthma and immunodeficiency diseases and more. At the same time as providing answers to about 10,000 patients a year, the institute is a center of medical innovation in the treatment and research of food allergy and is responsible for groundbreaking research in this field. Alongside the institute and in cooperation with it, an advanced immunological laboratory operates for research purposes.

What is important to know about food allergy?

• Food allergy exists in about 2-3% of the population and is common mainly in certain foods – milk, peanuts, eggs, sesame, nuts, and fish.
• When exposed to the allergenic food, people with a food allergy may develop a severe reaction that manifests itself in widespread redness, respiratory distress, severe abdominal pain and even loss of consciousness and may be life-threatening.
• People suffering from food allergies are required to completely avoid consuming the allergenic food and must carry an Epifen syringe or two in case of a severe reaction upon accidental exposure.
• Beyond the danger of random exposures, people suffering from food allergies suffer a significant decrease in quality of life due to the anxiety of reactions and due to the social restrictions on eating outside the home.

OIT program

The institute is home to one of the world’s largest oral immunotherapy (OIT) treatment programs and one of the leading research centers. Oral immunotherapy treatment (OIT) is an innovative treatment that involves a gradual and controlled increase in the portions of the allergenic food that the patient is able to consume.

The OIT program is unique in Israel, and over the past ten years has created a huge positive change in the lives of over 1,800 patients and their families. Of these, more than 88% of patients are now protected from allergic reactions in case of accidental exposure and more than 70% freely consume food to which they were previously allergic. After the treatment, the patients and their families are able to lead a lifestyle free from the burden and anxieties associated with food allergy and their quality of life improves significantly.

The institute simultaneously conducts a large number of studies aimed at developing and improving methodologies for the accurate diagnosis of food allergy and improving the treatment of food allergic patients, and in the last three years it has published 24 studies in leading scientific journals.

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Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research

Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research led by Prof. Shay Efrati is the largest and most sophisticated hyperbaric center in Israel and in the world, with 8 pressure chambers that can accommodate up to 90 people at a time and up to 500 people on any given day. The use of the cells makes it possible to combine the treatment with high-pressure oxygen in patients hospitalized in the various wards. In this way, it will be possible to facilitate the treatment of complex patients who have difficulty with mobility. In addition, a single pressure chamber is operated next to them, designed for the treatment of one person.

The center was established in 1997 and operates the largest pressure chambers in Israel and the most sophisticated in the world. The cells are submarine or plane-like structures, built of pressure-resistant materials in which the patient breathes oxygen or another mixture of breathing gases at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, resulting in an increase in the level of oxygen in the tissues and blood.

The cells help those suffering from various medical problems and are suitable for the treatment of 15 medical indications recognized by the Ministry of Health, including: treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-corona treatment, treatment of sudden hearing loss, treatment of head injuries, treatment of radiation damage, treatment of stroke, Fibromyalgia treatment. In addition, the center provides private treatments for a variety of diseases.

During the War of Iron Swords (10/2023) tens of thousands of citizens were exposed to events in which they were put in danger of life, experienced extreme helplessness or were exposed to difficult sights and loss. The initial expression of the traumatic event will often be confusion, disorientation, anxiety and helplessness, and these events will in most cases be accompanied by a traumatic reaction. The pressure chambers at the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research are part of the systemic treatment for those civilians and soldiers.

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Goncharovsky Family Microbiome Research Center

The Microbiome Research Center led by Prof. Ilan Jungster maps the relationship between changes in the composition of the gut microbiome in healthy and diseased states related to an imbalance in the gut bacteria, through treatments, clinical research and the development of diagnostic tools for disease states. The purpose of the operations is to improve the patients’ quality of life and even cure diseases such as obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases, infections and more. The center specializes in fecal transplant treatments (for patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, which does not respond to antibiotic treatment), clinical research to examine fecal transplant treatment for future medical indications and the development of diagnostic tools for various patient conditions through the analysis of the populations of microorganisms in the intestines and in combination with clinical and demographic parameters.

The human microbiota
The human body is a fertile habitat for countless microscopic creatures that make up a complex ecosystem that exists on it and within it. This complex system is called the “human microbiota”. This system consists of billions of cells (about 100 billion!) that include bacteria, viruses and fungi, which inhabit all the internal spaces of our body that are exposed to the external environment, including the respiratory system, mouth, stomach, intestines, urinary system, reproductive organs and skin. It is this figure that teaches that man is never alone. Inside it live billions of bacteria whose life is connected to them and their lives are connected to it.

Microorganisms and their genetic material are together called “microbiome”, and they live together with us in a symbiotic relationship that affects our development, our health and even our behavior. The vast majority of these microorganisms are bacteria that live in the digestive system. Studies conducted in recent years, using modern genetic sequencing technologies, reveal the interrelationship between the gut bacteria and our bodies, and the essential role of these bacteria in a variety of metabolic processes, in the maturation of the immune system and in protection against pathogens.

The vision of the Microbiome Research Center

The main goal of the institute, according to Prof. Ilan Jungster, is “mapping the relationship between changes in the composition of the gut microbiome in various health and disease states. Obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases, infections and neurological disorders are several examples of diseases associated with an imbalance in the gut bacteria. Therefore, with the help of By changing the composition of the intestinal bacteria through fecal transplants, we hope to improve the patients’ quality of life and perhaps even reach a cure for these diseases.”

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The Marla Dan Institute for Invasive Neuroradiology (Brain Surgery).

Stroke is a fatal disease and the third leading cause of death in developed countries. In Israel, approximately 20,000 people suffer from a stroke each year, and the brain damage that will be caused to them depends on evacuation to the hospital and treatment after the appearance of stroke symptoms. The faster these are, the brain damage will be reduced and will help prevent irreversible damage.

The Institute for Invasive Neuroradiology, under the management of Dr. Ronan Levita, experienced a significant jump of over 30% in procedures in 2022, and in 2023 it is the leader in the volume of catheterizations in Israel and performs more than twice the brain catheterization procedures than the national average. The institute specializes, among other things, in vascular diseases of the brain and neck , in cerebrovascular events and aneurysms.

הצנתורים מבוצעים באמצעות מכשור טכנולוגי הנחשב למתקדם מסוגו בעולם ומיועד, בין השאר, לעבד את התמונה המתקבלת לתלת ממדי לחשב את מהירות הזרימה בכלי הדם המוחיים ולשתף את המידע עם שאר מכשירי הדימות המתקדמים (CT, MRI) במרכז.

The Institute for Invasive Neuroradiology, under the management of Dr. Ronan Levita, experienced a significant jump of over 30% in procedures in 2022, and in 2023 it is the leader in the volume of catheterizations in Israel and performs more than twice the brain catheterization procedures than the national average. The institute specializes, among other things, in vascular diseases of the brain and neck , in cerebrovascular events and aneurysms.

How is the treatment carried out?

Catheterization of cerebral blood vessels is performed under general anesthesia. During the catheterization, the cerebral blood vessels are demonstrated, using the advanced two-plane catheterization device. The resulting image undergoes three-dimensional processing and allows to evaluate essential parameters such as the speed of flow in the blood vessels, cerebral blood volume and more. This technology provides the catheterist with a safe and efficient working environment and makes it possible to shorten the duration of the operation and reduce the dose of radiation to which the patient is exposed. In some cases, the technology makes it possible to avoid extensive surgical intervention.

 
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