Month: April 2022

– Heart and Brain claims that they have been waiting half a year, since November 2021, to implement da Vinci in the seaside town – meanwhile the minister was giving permission to entire hospitals
– The administrative procedure continues after the latest clarifications of April 20, the Ministry of Health responds

In Burgas, Bulgaria’s fourth largest city, which is suffering from a lack of doctors of various specialties and modern equipment, the latest generation of da Vinci surgical system with four articulated arms is on stand-by waiting for permission.
The robot is used in areas such as urology, abdominal (colorectal) surgery and thoracic surgery. The advantages of robot-assisted minimally invasive interventions have been empirically proven in the last 20 years: faster patient recovery, shorter hospital stay, less trauma and blood loss, and faster return to daily activity and working capacity for patients. The technology has better precision and even the external scars after such surgery are smaller. There are more than 5000 robots installed worldwide in more than 64 countries. In Bulgaria they are less than a dozen.

“The fact that the citizend of Southeastern Bulgaria (708 791 people according to NSI,2020) continue to sign up on lists and hope to wait for an opportunity for modern treatment with robotic surgery in Sofia does not worry anyone in the Ministry of Health. An application under Article 37B(2) of the Health Care Act for authorisation of high-tech activities at the Heart and Brain Hospital in Burgas was submitted to the Ministry of Health on 30 November 2021. The time limit for adjudication of the application is two months and expired in February this year. Despite our kind reminder of March 7, 2022, after all deadlines for the administrative procedure have expired, the Ministry of Health deliberately continues to withhold the authorization for robotic surgery, while the list of patients for urological, abdominal and thoracic robotic surgeries is growing and now exceeds 50 patients”, said Zhivko Kolev – Administrative Director of Heart and Brain Hospital, Burgas. “I can’t understand what the Minister wants from the patients” – the administrative director cannot contain his indignation.

The full article is available here in Bulgarian.

,,Heart and Brain” Center of Clinical Excellence opened in November 2021, the hospital has 300 beds, 600 doctors and health care professionals from across the country

Read the full article here in Bulgarian.

The seventy-one-year-old patient was discharged from the hospital a few days ago.

The man was initially hospitalized in the Pavlikeni Hospital with pain and tightness in the chest. The complaints persisted, his condition worsened and there was evidence of an acute coronary syndrome (heart attack). The patient was transported to the specialized cardiology hospital of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute (BCI) in Veliko Tarnovo at 22:15 in a severe, life-threatening condition. On admission to the hospital, the patient fell into clinical death. A number of measures are being taken to restore cardiac and respiratory activity. Under emergency conditions, specialists performed aortography, which proved the diagnosis: dissection of the ascending aorta.

Thanks to the quick and competent reaction of the cardiologists, Dr. Ivan Mladenov, Dr. Petar Petrov and Dr. Krasimir Kolev, the patient was stabilized. With the help of the picture archiving and communication system, through which imaging and functional tests are exchanged in real time between all BCI hospitals, the teams of cardiologists from the Cardiology Hospital in Veliko Tarnovo and cardiac surgeons from the Heart and Brain Center of Clinical Excellence decided to do surgery. The patient was transported at 23:45 by ambulance to Pleven, where in less than an hour an operating team was already formed. After a seven-hour cardiac surgery, doctors managed to bring his life back and stabilize his condition.

This is another example of the good cooperation between the state-owned Pavlikeni Hospital, the specialized cardiology hospital in Veliko Tarnovo and the ‘Heart and Brain’ Center of Clinical Excellence in Pleven – the basis of another life saved.

Dr. Dimitar Georgiev Pleven, surgeon at the ‘Heart and Brain’ Center of Clinical Excellence in Pleven, was the only representative from Bulgaria in the specialized training course “Innovative techniques in the treatment of colorectal cancer”, held in Hamburg, Germany. Dr Georgiev is part of the team of the General Surgery Clinic at the hospital in Pleven.

“The training covered all aspects of modern surgical treatment in patients with colon cancer. Mentors of the course were some of the leading oncological surgeons in Europe dedicated to the treatment of colorectal cancer,” says Dr Georgiev. According to him, the participation of specialists in such courses significantly increases their expertise, which also leads to improved quality of treatment for patients.

The General Surgery Clinic of the high-tech ‘Heart and Brain’ hospital in Pleven is among the leading in the country in treating patients with colorectal cancer. It carries out diagnostic and surgical work on diseases of the mammary and thyroid glands, stomach, small and large intestine, liver, pancreas, on wounds and all types of hernias of the abdominal wall, etc., the health institution added.

Source: BTA

A children’s medical care unit opened at the ,Heart and Brain’ Center of Clinical Excellence in Burgas.  Dr. Milena Vassileva will be available for consultations from Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 10:30, and Dr. Irina Kamenova-Kostadinova – from 10:30 to 13:00. To make an appointment please call 056/703003.

Heart and Brain Center of Clinical Excellence was awarded in the category “Hospital 2021” at the first edition of the Burgas Business Awards. During the official ceremony the best representatives of the business in Burgas region were awarded. The aim is to present, promote and reward successful companies and businesses in Burgas and on the entire Southern Black Sea coast.

Highly specialized and detailed ultrasound examination of the intrauterine development of the fetus and the course of pregnancy in the different gestational weeks is carried out by the Heart and Brain Center of Clinical Excellence in  Pleven. With fetal medicine we provide the best care for the fetus and the mother, says Dr. Dobrinka Gincheva, D.M., obstetrician-gynecologist at Heart and Brain.

“In our hospital we have a modern highly specialized ultrasound machine Samsung HERA W9, through which 2D-, 3D- and 4D-echography with Doppler examination are performed. We offer expectant mothers early and late biochemical screening, screening for pre-eclampsia at different gestational periods, early fetal morphology and fetal morphology in the second and third trimesters. During the examination, the major organs and systems, growth rate and fetal development are assessed and congenital anomalies are excluded. The degree of maturity, the type and position of the placenta, the amount of amniotic fluid, the length and degree of shortening of the cervix, the blood flow in the main fetal vessels, the umbilical cord and the uterine arteries are examined,” informs Dr. Gincheva.

The full article is available here in Bulgarian.

On the World Health Day, April 7, the Association of Medical Students in Bulgaria – Burgas, together with the Municipality of Burgas, honored leading doctors from the region and awarded 33 pupils and 5 students in an essay contest on the theme: ‘The doctor – my inspiration’.

The head of the Medical Imaging department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lachezar Manchev and Dr. Milena Vassileva, pediatrician at the Heart and Brain Center of Clinical Excellence participated in a discussion panel during the event. In front of the future doctors, the specialists from the newest high-tech hospital in the seaside town talked about their professional path, the challenges in medicine and what inspires them. They also answered questions from the audience.