Israel Active

Chen Sabag was born 32 years ago in a Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance in the southern Israeli town of Netivot.  On March 29, Chen’s son was born to his wife Hadas, in an MDA ambulance near the northern Israeli city of Afula.

International Committee of the Red Cross’s chief surgeon, Dr. Harald Veen, attended Israel’s “Surgical Management in Austere Environments” conference.  He said Israel is a role model for disaster medicine as “Israelis have the knowledge and experience” to excel in emergencies.

Doctors at Hadassah University Medical Centre in Jerusalem successfully treated 15 children from Russia who suffer from osteopetrosis, a rare and fatal genetic bone disease. In the northern Russian Republic of Chuvash, one of every 4,000 newborns has this condition.

Israel’s Gamida Cell reported good results from Duke University trials of its NiCord blood cancer treatment.  Compared with 101 patients receiving ordinary umbilical cord blood, the 18 patients using NiCord had a lower mortality rate, less infections and less time in hospital post-transplantation.

Two Israeli companies have partnered to cut the risk of patient infections dramatically in 10 hospitals in the US, Switzerland and Israel.  Hyginex wristbands, sensors and beacons use Atomation's IoT platform to capture data on staff hand washing and vibrate to remind them before and after patient contact.

Israeli patients will be the first in the world to enjoy a first-of-its-kind hybrid nuclear imaging scanner, at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital.  Doctors can map tissues and bones and identify diseases including cancer, heart and kidney diseases, broken bones, and infections. =

Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have trained cardiac cells to beat using mechanical stimuli that do not come into contact with the cells.  The cardiac cells continued to beat over an hour after the mechanical stimulus ceased.  It could lead to development of more effective pacemakers.

Doctors at the Poriya hospital near Tiberias treated a patient suffering from a large tumor in the back of his jaw by replacing the damaged part with a titanium copy that they made using a 3-D printer.  The patient started to eat normally only a few hours after his surgery.  

Israel’s Eximo has successfully completed a multicenter clinical trial of its laser system and unique catheters for treating peripheral artery disease (PAD).  Doctors cured 20 patients, some of whom otherwise required bypass surgery or leg amputation.

Doctors at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center healed a 5-year-old Syrian girl from her civil war wounds but then discovered she had cancer.  Israeli security services mounted a secret operation to smuggle a relative with matching bone marrow from “an enemy state” into Israel.