The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

The CICU is the largest of its kind and one of the most advanced in the country, having been designed to provide optimum continuous care. Comprising 9 critical care beds and an intermediate care unit with 15 beds, its comprehensive activities are widely acknowledged and are on a par with leading centers in the world. About 70% of Israeli children with congenital heart defects are treated in the Unit, which conducts more than 500 cardiothoracic surgeries annually.

Half the patients in the CICU are under one year of age, while 20% are newborns less than a month old. Their treatment is particularly complex not only due to the severity of their condition, but also due to their fragility and underdeveloped systems. 8% of patients are adults who were born with a congenital heart defect. Patients spend an average of one week in the unit, with some being hospitalized for up to three months.

Location: 5th Floor
Tel: 972-3-9253764/662
Fax: 972-3-9253129
Email: [email protected]

Director of the Unit
Prof. Ovdi Dagan

Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit
Dr. George Frenkel

Director of Neonatal Cardiac Surgery Service
Dr. Gabriel Amir

Senior Physicians

Dr. Ofer Schiller
Dr. Orit Shulman-Manor

Acting Head Nurse

Medical Services

• Repair of congenital and acquired heart disorders from newborns up until age 18
• Organ Transplantations - The Unit serves as a national referral center for heart, heart and lung, and lung transplantations, and has conducted thus far 17 transplant surgeries including a heart transplant in a year-old infant (the youngest in the country)
• Operation of ECMO, a life-saving artificial heart and/or lung machine
• Care following cardiac catheterization procedures
• Treatment of children from all over Israel and the Middle East, in line with Schneider Children’s mandate to serve as a Bridge to Peace in the region

Teaching & Training

The CICU regularly trains medical students from the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University as well as residents in Pediatric Cardiology from other hospitals in the country, and student nurses from the Dina School of Nursing. Residents in Pediatric Intensive Care also serve rotations in the CICU.

Research

The many problems confronting surgical staff, during both surgery and the recovery period, are investigated in the Cardiac Research Laboratory. Cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists and biologists constitute the Laboratory’s staff. The CICU conducts research mainly on two topics: infections and secondary complications of cardiac failure.