Month: January 2024

 – Assoc. Prof. Kornovski, according to the data of the National Health Insurance Fund ‘Heart and Brain’ is the leader in major cardiac surgery interventions and the first choice of patients and cardiologists in the country for 2022. What will the data show for 2023?

– More of the same (laughs)! Of course, I don’t know exactly before the data is officially published, and I am only referring to the record workload of the excellent cardiac surgery clinics in Pleven and Burgas. We were individually in the top 2-3 clinics for major cardiac surgery interventions and we have probably retained the lead in the 2023. Probably also and especially our clinic in Burgas is also a national leader in minimally invasive cardiac surgery, which is very patient-friendly and is widely preferred in the advanced world.

– In the Burgas competition, you were nominated for “Person of the Year 2023” with the words, “The world-class cardiac surgeon who chose Burgas over Switzerland and every other place in the world to save our hearts”. What kept you in your homeland, what unlocked this immense motivation and generated this strong national impact? We also noticed that in the public vote you led convincingly in the competition.

– Undoubtedly, there is no more impartial and accurate testimonial to the professionalism of the teams of the modern hospital complexes in Burgas and Pleven than the statistics of the National Health Insurance Fund and especially the data on in-hospital mortality in major cardiac surgery. As the head of the cardiac surgery clinic in Burgas, I am extremely proud of the results achieved and the trust gained. I often work together in person or in telemedicine consultation with my very talented colleague Dr. Yordan Krasnaliev, head of the cardiac surgery clinic at Heart and Brain Pleven. He and I have many collective and team reasons to be proud and motivated, but working together in February 2023 in Pleven and Burgas under the critical inspection of the world renowned prof. Thierry Carrel was a great ‘injection’ to our confidence and performance over the past year.

Despite the state-of-the-art equipment, leading specialists and reimbursement of treatment by the NHIF, paradoxically some patients are still subjected to open operations or sent abroad for treatment.

For the first time in Bulgaria, the Heart and Brain Hospital in Pleven operates a comprehensive oncology center that makes possible state-of-the-art diagnostics, high-tech treatment and long-term follow-up at the highest level, as offered only by the largest cancer centers in the United States and Western Europe.

The Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first and only member from our country of the European Cancer Institutes organization, which enables it to work in the European cancer network, to offer patients access to personalized treatment based on evidence-based medicine. It is a practice at the hospital for doctors from different specialties to work in sync and form multidisciplinary teams to seek the best treatment for the patient. Thus, within minutes, surgeons, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, pediatricians, oncologists, orthopedists, urologists, neurologists and pulmonologists can offer an adequate solution to a complex case.

The work of the centre is also enhanced by a modern molecular pathology and genetics laboratory, the country’s first cardio-oncology sector, and a state-of-the-art radiotherapy complex equipped with the country’s only Gamma Knife.

It is used for stereotactic radiosurgery to treat tumors and vascular diseases in the brain. The technology is applied for successful treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations in the brain, trigeminal neuralgia.

How does it work?

The Gamma Knife focuses very small beams of radiation on the tumor with extreme precision. Each such beam has a clinically insignificant effect on the healthy brain tissue through which it passes. The intersection point of all the beams is right on the tumor, where a strong dose of radiation is delivered to destroy it. There is no pain or discomfort with the procedure.

Radiosurgery is performed with ultra-high precision on the order of 0.1-0.2 millimeters (by comparison, it is 1-2 millimeters for most linear accelerator techniques), and this precision is checked and confirmed daily by medical physicists before the radiosurgery is performed and is monitored automatically, continuously and in real time while the radiation therapy session is being performed. Compared to other radiosurgery systems, the Gamma Knife enables a tenfold reduction in the radiation dose to the body, allowing brain radiosurgery to be performed even on pregnant women.

Why Gamma Knife?

Gamma Knife radiosurgery is usually performed in a single, one-day hospital stay. It is much safer both compared to standard neurosurgery, which involves incisions in the scalp, skull, brain membranes and tissue, and compared to other types of radiation therapy, which involve repeated radiation with much less precision.

So far, nearly 500 patients have been treated with stereotactic robotic radiosurgery at Heart and Brain Pleven, mainly with brain metastases (including multiple brain metastases at the same time), benign tumours, some cases of primary malignant brain tumours, vascular malformations and functional conditions (trigeminal neuralgia).

Despite the state-of-the-art equipment, leading specialists and reimbursement of treatment by the NHIF, paradoxically some patients are still subjected to open operations or sent abroad for treatment.

HIPEC and PIPAC methods enable control and in some cases complete cure of previously considered incurable primary and metastatic peritoneal malignancies

Beginning in 2024, the ‘Heart and Brain’ Center of Excellence in Pleven will launch a program for the treatment of primary and metastatic malignancies of the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity). As part of the program, a team from the General and Oncological Surgery Clinic received training at one of the certified centers in Europe in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy. The hospital now also has state-of-the-art equipment for the treatment of this type of disease.

The medical centre on “Krum Popov” Str. in Sofia, Lozenets, provides faster access to the best specialists in the country

“In response to a number of recommendations from colleagues and patients who have received modern treatment and medical care at the high-tech hospital complexes ‘Heart and Brain’, leading specialists will examine and consult patients in Sofia,” said the medical director of ‘Heart and Brain’ Medical Center Dr. Radka Alexandrova.

Dr. Alexandrova is a specialist in pneumology and phthisiology with a scientific degree “Doctor of Medicine” and acquired the right to work with ionizing radiation. She specialized in functional diagnostics at the leading university hospital “Henri Mondor” in Paris. She has 10 years of experience as head of the department of non-specific pulmonary diseases in a pulmonary hospital in Sofia. She is fluent in French and English and provides continuing education for GPs.

Some of the most sought-after experts in the country, with recognized experience at home and abroad, are available to Sofia patients. The center provides the opportunity for a second opinion, examination or consultation by the best surgeons, cardiologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, urologists, geneticists, pediatricians, obstetricians, pulmonologists, endocrinologists, oncologists and quick access to the only in the country special Gamma Knife and the latest treatment technologies.

Widely known throughout the country and recognized abroad, the high-tech hospital complexes ‘Heart and Brain’ have been the first choice of patients in the North and Southeast in recent years. Consistency in the introduction of new treatment methods, continuous training of the teams from different medical specialties and long-term work to build trust and respect between specialists and patients have distinguished the medical facilities of the Bulgarian Cardiac Institute (BCI) from all other hospitals in the country for 15 years.

BCI’s achievements in reducing cardiovascular mortality, improving quality and prolonging life have been repeatedly recognized abroad. In the past year 2023 alone, the quality of treatment at ‘Heart and Brain’ was confirmed by Prof. Carrel – cardiac surgery, prof. Shu – vascular surgery, prof. Rivas – thoracic surgery, prof. Roettinger – Orthopaedics and by a number of other luminaries of world medical science and practice.

The neonatologists and paediatricians who will be consulting at the Heart and Brain Centre are leading the teams at the newest maternal and child health clinic, Mommy and Me. They take on the most complex cases in the North, increasingly from the capital and all areas of the country, and are established names in their specialties. Thanks to specialised neonatal ambulances equipped with the latest generation transport cuvettes, neonatologists tackle a multitude of challenges in the first hours of life for the youngest patients.

It’s no coincidence that the names of the leading doctors of ,Heart and Brain’ appear in national rankings such as “Doctors we trust” or are nominated for personalities of the year.

Checkups are by appointment only online or by calling 02 9631298. More information can be found on the Heart and Brain Medical Center Facebook page or at www.test.cardiacinstitute.bg.