About the Department of Neurology at Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa
The Department of Neurology at the Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa offers the modern diagnostics and treatment of diseases of the nervous system, including impaired functions of the brain and spinal cord, as well as lesions of the peripheral nervous system. It provides emergency treatment for stroke patients, namely, thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activators. The department employs highly qualified specialists who use innovations in the field of neurology and apply all their knowledge and skills for the benefit of patients. The department is headed by Prof. Dr. med. David Yarnitsky.
The department pays special attention to the comprehensive diagnostics and treatment of epilepsy, including video EEG monitoring, electrical stimulation, psychological support for patients and their families. Also, the department's priority focus is the medical care of patients with motor disorders. The state-of-art techniques and drugs are applied for this purpose.
The department has an ultramodern EMG Laboratory, which is responsible for the testing of the function of individual muscles and muscle fibers, including sphincters, vocal cord muscles and respiratory muscles.
The department's range of medical services includes:
- Diagnostics and treatment of epilepsy
- Drug therapy
- Vagus nerve stimulation
- Surgical treatment (in collaboration with the specialists in neurosurgery)
- Diagnostics and treatment of motor disorders
- Diagnostics and treatment of trigeminal neuralgia
- Drug therapy
- Injection therapy
- Surgical treatment (in collaboration with the specialists in neurosurgery)
- Diagnostics and treatment of multiple sclerosis
- Drug therapy (injections)
- Supportive methods for pain management, such as massage, physiotherapy
- Diagnostics and treatment of neuromuscular disorders
- Oral and intravenous drug therapy
- Surgical treatment (in collaboration with the specialists in neurosurgery)
- Diagnostics and treatment of Parkinson's disease
- Physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy
- Drug therapy (levodopa drugs)
- Deep brain stimulation (in collaboration with the specialists in neurosurgery)
- Intracerebral interventions using MRI-guided focused ultrasound (in collaboration with the specialists in neurosurgery)
- Diagnostics and treatment of tremor
- Innovative non-invasive treatment technique using MRI-guided focused ultrasound
- Diagnostics and treatment of cognitive disorders
- Diagnostics and treatment of stroke
- Thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activators (used during the first 3-6 hours after stroke incidence)
- Diagnostics and treatment of other nervous system diseases
Curriculum vitae
Prof. David Yarnitsky is the Chief Physician of the Department of Neurology at the Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa. He also heads the Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology).
Prof. Yarnitsky graduated from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and completed his residency in Neurology at Rambam followed by a two-year pain management and neuromuscular fellowship at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.
His main research interest is in understanding pain modulation mechanisms and applying them in clinical practice. In addition to supervising clinical training of neurology residents, he mentors graduate and doctoral students in neurophysiology of pain. He has won several research grants from funding agencies, including the European Union, Israel Science Foundation, Binational US-Israel Foundation, Migraine Research Foundation and others. He also heads the Research Committee for the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). In 2014, Prof. Yarnitsky received the Ron Melzack Award from the IASP for the best paper of the year in pain research, and he gave a plenary talk at the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) world meeting.
He is an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Pain and served until recently as Associate Editor for Pain. For the past six years he has led an international forum of experts on the issue of conditioned pain modulation. The forum has already published two recommendation papers and is about to publish a third one.
Prof. Yarnitsky has authored some 160 papers, several chapters, editorials, review articles and meta-analyses. He is a regular speaker at the World and European Pain Conferences, as well as serves as member of scientific committees.
Photo of the doctor: (c) Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa