Sheba Gets to the Heart of the Matter

82 year-old Yishai Lechtman, was tired, frustrated and thought he was surely on the verge of death from his chronic heart problems. Despite medications and invasive procedures (known as ablations), his heart was still not functioning in the proper manner and in fact, was deteriorating.

Sheba Medical Center was Yishai's last hope. Dr. Roy Beinart, Director of the Davidai Arrhythmia Center in Sheba's Olga and Lev Leviev Heart Center, along with Prof. Zvi Simon, Head of the Department of Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy decided on a novel and inventive procedure that had never been attempted before in Israel and had been performed at only a handful of hospitals around the world. The idea was to fire a short, targeted radioactive beam at the precise spot in Mr. Lechtman's heart region, which was the source of his on-going trouble.

"In medical terminology, the procedure was actually a non-invasive cardiac radiation for ablation of ventricular arrhythmia," revealed Dr. Beinart. "Until now maybe 30-40 patients were treated worldwide with this new procedure. It is definitely the first time it was ever performed in Israel and based on the positive results with Mr. Lechtman, where the problem completely disappeared following the procedure, we intend to offer this novel treatment to other patients." Added Mr. Lechtman, "I decided I wanted to live a bit longer. After this procedure I no longer feel pain or unwell and go about my daily life in a manner normal for my age."