Treatment of Stroke in Israel

Most people die from vascular and heart diseases. Along with heart disease, stroke is one of the pathologies that take the most lives. Those who survive often lose their ability to work and need constant care.

Among the causes of human death, stroke is in the second place in the world, while among the pathologies that worsen the quality of life it is in the first place, because the disease usually leads to disability. More than 25% of people in the world have stroke at least once during their life, and about 10% of the world's population die from this disease. In Israel, you can undergo treatment in the acute period of cerebrovascular accident, undergo surgery to prevent recurrent stroke and undergo rehabilitation.

What is the process of stroke treatment in Israel?

A stroke is a violation of cerebral circulation, the signs of which persist for more than a day. If they regress on their own in less than 24 hours, this is a transient ischemic attack. Nonetheless, such patients also need help, because transient circulatory disorders are stroke precursors.

When a patient is admitted to the Neurological Clinic or the Stroke Unit, he receives basic therapy. It is aimed at supporting breathing, blood circulation, correcting water-electrolyte imbalance, combating cerebral edema and preventing pneumonia.

In 70% of cases, ischemic stroke is caused by a thrombus, which clogs the lumen of the artery. The doctors are trying to remove it. For this purpose, drugs are injected into a vein. Israel uses new methods of thrombolysis, in which drugs are injected into the artery, in the immediate vicinity of the thrombus. Although this procedure is more complicated and has a higher cost, the method provides better treatment results.

Other achievements of Israeli neurology in the fight against ischemic strokes include:

• Destruction of blood clots using ultrasound
• Thrombolysis in conditions of brain cooling and neuroprotective therapy to reduce the risk of complications
• Thrombus cavitation with microspheres and vesicles
• Intravascular thrombus extraction 

Patients with ischemic stroke may require surgery on the blood vessels to prevent recurrent cerebrovascular accident. These are primarily the carotid, spinal and subclavian arteries, since they are the ones that feed the brain.

A hemorrhagic stroke is much less common. This disease is also called cerebral hemorrhage. Its causes may include ruptured aneurysms, vascular malformations. The hemorrhagic stroke has a very high mortality rate – up to 70%, but when using surgical treatment, it is significantly reduced. The doctors remove hematomas, perform aneurysm clipping and embolization.

After stroke, a patient undergoes a rehabilitation. Depending on the prevailing disorders of the central nervous system, various procedures and methods can be used. To recover patients, doctors use physical therapy, occupational therapy, training on simulators and in the pool. Patients restore fine motor skills, working skills, speech and intellectual functions. Psychologists, rehabilitologists, neurologists, speech therapists, aphasiologists and other specialists work with them. The rehabilitation after stroke is necessary, so that after coming back home a person can return to a full life or at least not have the need for constant care.

What hospitals can offer treatment?

Israel has many good hospitals where patients can receive drug therapy, undergo operations and rehabilitation procedures.

• Rabin Medical Center. The hospital offers emergency methods for stroke patients, which reduce the volume of brain damage. Doctors use thrombectomy and balloon angioplasty to improve blood circulation to the areas of the central nervous system that do not receive enough oxygen due to blood clots entering the vascular lumen. In the case of hemorrhagic strokes caused by aneurysm, its clipping or embolization is performed. The Rabin Medical Center offers rehabilitation after stroke.
• Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa. This center operates a Stroke Unit. It admits 1,200 patients with this diagnosis every year. The clinic specializes in treating patients in the acute period of cerebrovascular accident. The center for comprehensive stroke treatment uses artificial intelligence to accelerate and synchronize treatment. The medical facility carries out endovascular procedures to prevent recurrent strokes.
• Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. To treat stroke, the center uses drug therapy, hyperbaric oxygenation and physiotherapy. Doctors perform surgical procedures to normalize cerebral blood flow and prevent recurrent strokes. These are carotid endarterectomy, carotid stenting and bypass surgery, removal and dissolution of blood clots in the vessels of the brain.
• Sheba Medical Center. The Department of Neurology at the hospital provides the stroke patients with drug therapy and resuscitation procedures. After the end of the acute period, the Therapeutic process is continued in the Rehabilitation Center. The Sheba Medical Center has a unique Step Institute, which will help restore movements, normalize gait and return to an active life.
• University Hospital Hadassah. It has one of the highest survival rates for stroke patients. The hospital specializes in the surgical treatment of such patients. The Hadassah Medical Center performs removal of the hematomas (foci of hemorrhage), vascular plastic surgery, clipping and embolization of arteries in the case of aneurysms, stenting and balloon angioplasty of clogged arteries. The treatment in the acute period involves the use of intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy, in which clot-dissolving drugs are injected directly in the thrombosis site.

Why is it better to undergo stroke treatment in Israel?

Israel is one of the countries with advanced medicine, and therefore local hospitals are in demand among foreign patients. Medical tourists visit Israel to undergo treatment in the Cancer Centers, Neurosurgery Centers, Children's Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centers. Many come here to treat heart and vascular diseases.

You can go to Israel for stroke treatment. Doctors at the hospitals in Israel can provide help both in the acute period of this disease and at the rehabilitation stage, after the patient's health has been stabilized.

Here are the main benefits of stroke treatment in Israel:

• Well-equipped hospitals, some of which include specialized stroke units.
• Cutting-edge diagnostic methods allow doctors to quickly get information about the type of stroke, the volume of brain damage, as well as about the affected blood vessels, and choose the best treatment methods.
• Minimally invasive surgery allows removing thrombi, blood clots, restoring damaged vessels and avoiding recurrent strokes.
• Hospitals in Israel use the very latest protocols for the conservative treatment of stroke, which can achieve stabilization of the patient's condition with minimal health risks.
• Effective treatment of even the most severe cases, when patients have concomitant heart pathologies, diabetes mellitus and other diseases.
• Low cost of medical services. It is cheaper to undergo treatment in Israel than in Europe, North America and developed Asian countries.

How to go to Israel for stroke treatment?

To undergo stroke treatment in Israel, please, use the Booking Health service. Here you can get information about hospitals and doctors, medical services and prices. You can compare the cost of procedures and operations in different hospitals and book a program at a favourable price.

Booking Health specialists will arrange your treatment in Israel. We have been engaged in medical tourism for a long time, helping patients from 75 countries of the world to restore health abroad. We offer the following services and benefits:

• Selection of the hospital for stroke treatment in Israel
• Selection of doctors who achieve the best results in the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases
• Possibility to undergo urgent treatment
• Reduced cost of medical services – the prices are reduced due to avoiding additional coefficients for foreign patients
• Direct communication with the doctor
• Information about the prices, cost of medical procedures, return of unspent funds after the completion of the program
• Preparation of a stroke treatment program without the need to repeat previous diagnostic tests
• Buying and forwarding medicines
• Communication with the hospital after the completion of the medical program
• Organization of additional diagnostics, treatment or rehabilitation

Booking Health specialists provide high-quality service. We will book a hotel and airline tickets for you, meet you at the airport and take you to the hospital by car.