Month: October 2018

The intervention, which required the highest level of competence, lasted for approximately an hour and a half. The team of neurosurgeons was led by the world-renowned spinal surgeon doctor Ralf Wagner. After the intervention, doctor Wagner said he was extremely impressed by his Bulgarian colleagues and the hospital as well.

Doctor Ralf Wagner: This type of surgery has a promising future not only in Bulgaria but all around the world and Europe. Patients prefer minimally invasive surgery. This is the reason why it is developing so fast. Promising future lies ahead for this type of surgery.

Doctor Wagner is one of the world leaders in endoscopic spinal surgery with over 2500 interventions. His visit in Pleven is a step forward in the development of Bulgarian neurosurgery, said doctor Dimitar Haritanov, who was part of the team that performed the surgery.

Doctor Dimitar Haritanov, neurosurgeon: The incisions were extremely small , they spare the surrounding tissue and the surrounding organs, which could otherwise be affected during an open surgery, risk of bleeding is a lot smaller as well. Also, the recovery period is very short. Of course, this type of interventions are suited only for certain patients.

Later in the day, the team performed a second endoscopic surgery in the lumbar area. The innovative spinal interventions will continue to be routinely performed in the Heart and Brain Center of Excellence in Pleven.

The innovative method is the only chance for normal life for patients with severe complications who have aortic valve calcification and other associated diseases. This type of patients would not be able to go through the classical surgical method with the help of a heart-lung machine.

Doctor Valentin Hristov, invasive cardiologist: By accessing through the femoral artery, we can reach the area of the aortic valve using a catheter, where the valve is being implanted. In this case, the implanted valve is a self-expanding type.

This method can be applied only on certain patients, prof. Vladimir Danov clarified.

Prof. Vladimir Danov, cardio surgeon: It is of paramount importance for this procedure to be performed in highly qualified and high-tech hospitals.

Four days after the invasive procedure, the 87-year-old Kamen Krachunovski says he can already feel improvement in his health.

Kamen Krachunovski, patient: My breathing has improved. Four days have passed from the procedure. My age is also affecting my health.

A few days after this first procedure of this type in Pleven, a second one is performed. Transcatheter aortic valve has been successfully implanted in a 62-year-old man.

A woman from Varna, aged 54, was successfully operated for a rare hemorrhage in the spinal canal. The intervention was executed by the neurosurgeon Dr. Dimitar Haritonov in the super modern Heart and Brain Center of Excellence in Pleven.

The patient initially complained from a shoulder injury in the hospital in Varna. After the check-up, the established diagnosis was tumor in the spinal cord and the patient was advised to have an emergency surgery. Scared by the diagnosis and the quick unfolding of the events, her relatives asked for a second opinion. A second MRI was done by the precise equipment in the hospital in Pleven and it refuted the initial diagnosis. It turned out to be a large chronic epidural hemorrhage in the spinal canal- from 4th cervical to 5th thoracic vertebrae. A rare condition, caused by a light injury and by a prolonged taking of a medication used to prevent blood coagulation (Sintrom), Dr. Haritanov shared. Patients using this type of therapy should be carefully tested and evaluated and they must be brought to the normal values for blood coagulation in order to avoid blood loss on the operating table.

During the open surgery, which lasted approximately 3 hours and required a 25-30 cm incision, the hemorrhage was removed and the patient is successfully recovering now.

This medical case will be reported in the specialized literature as it is extremely rare in the medical practice.

Neurosurgeons from across the entire country gathered in Pleven to attend a High Tech Neurosurgery Conference. Approximately 150 doctors discussed how modern technologies help to improve the quality of the surgical treatment at a reduced strain for the patients.

Leading German and Bulgarian specialists shared their experience in diagnostics in brain neurosurgery and endoscopic surgeries on the spine, which are new for Bulgaria.

Prof. Doctor Nikolay Raynov: “In the last 10 or 15 years modern technologies were introduced, which were not available before the advances in electronics and computer technology. In order for a neurosurgeon to be successful, he also needs to have available the necessary equipment.”

Prof. Volkmar Heidecke, visiting Bulgaria for the first time, introduced the latest innovations in the intraoperative imaging, which are used in the neurosurgery clinic in Augsburg.

Prof. Doctor Volkmar Heidecke: “For the neurosurgeons who have mastered modern technology there is a lot of potential, for example an accuracy of a hundredth of the millimeter to measure the position of the instruments in the surgical field and this way they can reduce the surgical injury for the patient.”

The only hybrid operating room in Bulgaria, which has available equipment for intraoperative imaging has been running for a few months in Pleven. Trainings for Bulgarian neurosurgeons have been planned in the future in this hybrid OR, allowing them to keep up with the latest innovations without the need to travel to Western clinics.

You can read the entire article in Bulgarian here.