Month: March 2023

Dr. Runkov’s team performs complex hybrid surgery in a specially equipped operating room with high-tech equipment.

Surgeons from the Vascular Surgery Clinic at ‘Heart and Brain’ Burgas performed a life-saving operation on a patient condemned to permanent disability after potential amputation of a limb in another medical facility.

The patient was admitted to another healthcare facility with complaints of pain, numbness and coldness in his right leg. He was referred for emergency surgery due to an identified thrombus in the leg. After surgery, the patient’s complaints continued with blistering on the foot and blackening of the toes. The opinion of the specialists was that the foot should be amputated. The patient refused amputation and sought help from Dr. Rumen Runkov, head of the vascular surgery clinic at ,Heart and Brain’ Burgas.

After hospitalization, multiple imaging studies were performed. The specialists found complete blockage of the femoral, popliteal and popliteal arteries. A decision was made to operate urgently. Dr. Runkov and his team performed a complex hybrid surgical intervention in a specially equipped operating room with high-tech equipment. A bypass of part of the femoral artery was placed, followed by stenting and balloon dilatation of the popliteal arteries, which fully restored blood supply to the right leg. The patient recovered rapidly after surgery, reporting resolution of pain. He was discharged after a short postoperative stay without complaints.

Read the full story here in Bulgarian.

Heart and Brain Center of Medical Excellence has started an information campaign and free consultations for patients with lung diseases. The occasion is the World Tuberculosis Day, which is traditionally celebrated on March 24, said Dr. Ilia Krachunov, Head of the Pulmonology Department at the hospital.

“I consider prevention and prophylaxis among the most important in patients with lung diseases. Conducting such information campaigns is extremely important and imperative, because in this way we raise public awareness. Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease that affects the respiratory system the most (over 90 per cent), but it can potentially affect every organ in the body. The disease is curable, especially if diagnosed early and treated promptly and correctly,” said Dr. Krachunov.

The average level of health contribution in the EU is 15%, in Bulgaria it is 8%

“The public funds for healthcare in Bulgaria, which are mainly formed by an 8% health contribution, are insufficient. This is evidenced by the high co-payments of patients for implants, medicines, medical activities that are not included in the health insurance package. According to Eurostat, the levels of co-payments in Bulgaria are the highest of any country in the European Union, so it is inevitable that the funds for healthcare in Bulgaria will increase.”

This is what prof. Tony Vekov, manager of a chain of private hospitals specializing in high-tech medicine.

He added that the average level of healthcare contribution in the EU is around 15%.

“If there is competition in the financing mechanism, it will contribute more to patients, because then health insurance companies will be motivated to monitor the quality of health products that their insured receive. Because if insured persons are not satisfied with their insurers, they can change them. It is another matter that this competition cannot be absolutely free; it must be regulated, at least so that these funds can have financial stability. To be financially stable, there should be no more than three or four in Bulgaria.”

You can find the full interview here in Bulgarian.

Optimal treatment, which gives heart failure patients a chance for a longer life, is now part of the business card of the high-tech ‘Heart and Brain’ Pleven. For the past two months, the Cardiology Clinic has been implanting resynchronizing pacemakers (CRT-P), cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) and a combination of the two CRT-D devices.

“Until the end of 2022, the optimal treatment of heart failure patients and the non-medication prevention of sudden cardiac death were not possible in Pleven,” says Dr. Nikolay Petrov from the Cardiology Clinic at ‘Heart and Brain’ Pleven. After successfully passing the European Heart Arrhythmia Association (EHRA) examination and the expert level examinations in cardiac pacing at the Medical University of Sofia and the Medical Faculty of Sofia University, Dr. Petrov is now a fully certified expert in cardiac pacing.

The full article is available here in Bulgarian.