Oncology
Israel has a wide reputation for having the best technology and high success rates for many oncology procedures. Oncology centers throughout the country specialize in using advanced treatments for successfully treating a wide range of malignancies.
Prognosis is highly dependent on the stage in which cancer is diagnosed – diagnosis of Stage 1 cancer results in a 90% recovery rate. The most new technologies are used for the effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including biopsies with same day results. The biological study of tumor pre-treatment can indicate the success rate of recovery.
This branch of surgery includes, among others, operations for colorectal, gastric, esophageal, pancreatic and hepatic tumors. Today, these operations are considered to be a measure of quality, and the immediate outcome (recovery from surgery) serves as well-established parameter of surgical standards and quality of perioperative care – anesthesia, intensive care, supervision and monitoring, nursing care, etc.
The field of oncological surgery also includes a unique group of abdominal sarcoma tumors. These tumors are enormous, requiring complex surgical procedures for excision of the tumor and the adjoining organs. We handle also breast operations, plastic surgery for breast reconstruction, and excisions of melanoma lesions and other skin tumors.
New approaches in Chemotherapy
The oncology centers in Israel provide effective, modern, high quality chemotherapy treatments. The treatments include also new biological treatments, with new medications, especially in breast, gastric and colon cancer. Patients are afforded a discreet, comfortable and private atmosphere in which our staff takes every care to accommodate patients, with flexible treatment times.
The centers are staffed with senior physicians and experienced nurses.
Advanced Radiotherapy
The radiotherapy units are the leading units of its kind in Israel and in the world. They use the most advanced radiotherapy technologies, such as IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy), offering maximum radiation of the tumor and minimum damage to healthy cells, successful treatment are provided to hundreds of patients.
The IMRT is an advanced mode of high precision radiotherapy that utilizes Computer Controlled Linear Accelerators (LINAC) to deliver precise radiation doses to malignant tumor or specific areas within the tumor.
IMRT allows for the radiation doses to conform more precisely to the 3-D shape of the tumor by modulating or controlling the intensity of the radiation beam in multiple small volumes.
Conformal radiotherapy is tailored personally for each individual patient. Before each course of radiotherapy the patient undergoes 3-dimensional imaging (CT,MRI and/or PET-CT) to define the target to be treated.
In some cases where the tumor moves wirh respiration (for example lung cancer) a 4-dimensional CT,taking the patient’s breathing cycle into consideration,is performed.
A model of the patient is constructed in the radiotherapy planning system in order to select the best possible radiotherapy beams for that patient. When indicated, treatment is given with IMRT.
A course of conventional radiotherapy consists of around 25-30 daily treatments. Before each treatment the patient undergoes imaging to ensure the accuracy of the treatment (Image Guided RadioTherapy – IGRT).
The combination of conformal radiotherapy and image guidance has proven to increase the cure of cancer at the same time as reducing side effects.
Steretoactic radiotherapy (or radiosurgery) uses a short course of radiation (1-5 treatments) to treat small, well demarcated tumors, in particular in the brain. For some tumors, such as brain metastases and benign non-resectable brain tumors, radiosurgery results in a high rate of tumor control.
Modern radiotherapy machines, in several centers in Israel, combine radiosurgery techniques with IGRT to ablate tumors in the lungs, liver and other organs (Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy – SABR). This allows cure of small tumors such as primary lung cancer and metastases without invasive surgery.
Immunotherapy
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation
Leukemia treatments
Bone marrow transplants
State of the art technologies include radiotherapy simulators, new linear accelerator, tumor-marker investigations and stop flow therapy, used in only a few select medical centers worldwide