Rambam’s electronic microscope enables greater magnification of tissues for identifying unusual diseases. It analyzes samples sent from an urban area extending from mid to Northern Israel. This month, the hospital will purchase a new instrument, the most sophisticated in all of Israel.

With the opening of the civil year, the Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC) will be fortified with the addition of the most sophisticated electronic microscope
 in Israel today. The instrument, given to Rambam by an anonymous donor, was dedicated on January 3rd 2010. The ceremony was held at the Institute of Pathology at Rambam.

The new microscope will serve all hospitals in Northern Israel, which has a population of more than two million residents. In the entire country, six medical centers possess electronic microscopes. Of these hospitals, Rambam handles the greatest number of examination results per year, as it serves a region spanning from Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, to the country’s northernmost border.

In standard light microscopes, tissues under examination can be enlarged from two, to one thousand times. In contrast, an electronic microscope, which operates by electronic light beams that create an enlarged picture of the tissue, enabling enlargements from between 2,000 to 600,000 times. The new microscope at Rambam (model 1011 of the Japanese company, JEOL) is considered the fastest in carrying out examinations and giving results.

Electronic microscopes are used primarily in hospitals for diagnosing illnesses that cannot be identified without this tool, or for confirming the presence of kidney, skin, nerve and muscle, pediatric lung, tumor-related, genetic storage and metabolic diseases. The electronic microscope is also used for research connected with stem cells, effects of medicines on different cells and intra-cellular changes resulting from various diseases and conditions.

According to Prof. Ofer Ben-Itzhak of the Institute of Pathology at Rambam, the innovative device places microscopic diagnosis at the forefront of medicine in Israel: “We are talking about the most advanced microscopic technology in the world, which will benefit all residents of the north.”