Cardiology Department

Cardiology, the field of medicine dedicated to the study and treatment of heart and cardiovascular disorders, is at the forefront of modern healthcare. It is a continuously evolving discipline, driven by advancements in technology, innovative therapies, and a deep commitment to improving the lives of patients. The Shamir Medical Center, currently Israel’s fourth-largest government-owned hospital, is home to a leading team of cardiologists in diverse fields of expertise, who are committed to patient-centered care, continuous innovation, and cutting-edge research. However, because of infrastructural limitations, access to our Cardiology Department’s outstanding professional capabilities is unfortunately limited. To address this challenge and ensure our hospital is well prepared to care for the growing population we serve, we intend to create a state-of-the-art complex that will house a new Interventional Cardiology Unit and the Cardiac Intermediate Care Unit. The new complex, for which we seek funding for construction and equipment, will enable us to save more lives and give our many patients excellent medical care, putting Shamir Medical Center’s Cardiology Department on a par with top-rated cardiology centers in Israel and abroad.

Introduction

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of mortality in developed countries. In Israel, over 25,000 people suffer a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, every year. The treatment for this life-threatening condition, caused by coronary arteries being partially or fully blocked, is mechanical in nature - opening the artery and renewing blood flow to the heart. In many cases, this is done through cardiac catheterization, a minimally invasive procedure in which coronary arteries are accessed through a miniscule incision in the patient’s forearm or groin. Any delay in treatment of heart attack increases the risk of dying and of complications such as heart failure, which is the reason interventional cardiology teams are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Increased availability of this efficient treatment for heart attacks has led to a significant drop in MI-related mortality in recent years.

Shamir Medical Center’s Cardiology Department

Our Interventional Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology Department performs over 2,500 procedures every year using some of the most advanced medical, imaging, and diagnostic technologies available. Our interventional cardiologist and electrophysiologists have extensive experience in performing complex and advanced interventions along with using state of the art technologists. This unique expertise has gained the department accreditation as a center of excellence by biomedical engineering and imaging giants Boston Scientific Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Biosense Webster and attracts experts from elite cardiology centers around the world who wish to train in the use of this technologies.

Shamir Medical Center is affiliated with Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine and serving a population of approximately one million residents of the Shfela region. In recent years, our medical center is undergoing significant development and expansion processes of both infrastructure and medical expertise, aiming to become Israel’s largest medical facility and serving an additional 500,000 residents.

Our Cardiology Department is undergoing a similar evolution. Headed by Prof. Shmuel Fuchs, the department is considered one of the top cardiology units in Israel and a true pioneer in the development and implementation of groundbreaking procedures for complex cardiovascular conditions, including the use of hemodynamic support in cardiac emergencies, innovative procedures for opening fully blocked coronary arteries, personalized cardiovascular treatment based on specialized coronary artery physiology and imaging assessments, catheter-based pulmonary artery interventions for treatment of embolism, a multidisciplinary treatment approach to heart failure, and the latest arrhythmia ablations and cardiac pacing technologies.

Current State

Access to our Cardiology Department’s outstanding professional capabilities is unfortunately limited, due to severe infrastructural limitations:

The Interventional Cardiology Unit has two catheterization labs, one for coronary and structural interventions such as angioplasty and stenting procedures and one for cardiac electrophysiology. While equipped with the most advanced imaging and medical technologies, these labs are housed in a building whose existing infrastructure fails to support the nature and scope of our work.
The Cardiac Intermediate Care Unit, the core of cardiovascular hospitalization at Shamir Medical Center, houses 12 beds, with a maximum capacity of 15 beds. The unit is equipped with advanced monitoring technologies and is considered a center of excellence in the treatment of complex cardiac patients. However, over the past three years the number of patients requiring cardiovascular hospitalization has increased substantially, including patients with complex cardiac conditions requiring multidisciplinary treatment or invasive procedures.

These constraints compromise our ability to provide optimal healthcare to the entirety of patients needing our services. The vast number of patients requiring invasive cardiovascular procedures, coupled with the shortage in hospitalization beds, generate medical and ethical dilemmas of extreme complexity on a daily basis as we are forced to decide who to admit and which procedure to postpone. Should we hospitalize the 53-year-old man with recent myocardial infarction, or treat an already hospitalized patient with deteriorating heart failure? Should we perform the scheduled ablation on an elderly woman who has had nothing to eat or drink for hours in preparation for the procedure, or treat the patient who arrived at intensive care with a cardiac “short circuit” and was fitted with a temporary pacemaker? These are momentous decisions, influenced not only by our patients’ medical condition and its inherent risks, but also by the extreme stress and anxiety experienced by both patients and family members.