Author: BCI

Recently published scientific data reveals an alarming trend of increasing colon cancer cases under the age of 50. This represents a serious health and socio-economic problem. Early colorectal cancer differs from ‘classic’ later cases in terms of its epidemiological and pathological characteristics, as well as its metabolic and molecular genetic features. Increasingly, different teams of scientists are concluding that changes in the gut microbiome are involved in the development of colorectal cancer at an early age. This is shared by Dr. Lidiya Dimova, a specialist in molecular genetics and oncogenetics at ‘Heart and Brain’ Pleven. She has extensive experience in research on the impact of the microbiome on individual susceptibility to some of the most common diseases in the elderly – cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, and in developing strategies for practical application of the findings in clinical practice. “Our genetics laboratory team is in constant contact with the world’s leading centres and is very motivated for great development,” she says.

The original article is available here in Bulgarian.

A specialised ambulance and a team from the Maternal and Child Health Clinic ‘Mama and I’ travelled from Pleven to Sofia to take two children in life-threatening condition and treat them back in Pleven. The little patients, a boy and a girl aged two months, were initially admitted to the neonatology ward of the state-run specialist children’s hospital in Sofia. Due to the inability of the hospital in Sofia to provide them with the necessary intensive monitoring and care and with the argument that they have already exceeded the age for neonatology, they turned for assistance to their colleagues in Pleven. The doctors from Pleven set up an organization and the children were transported urgently and placed in the intensive care unit of ‘Mama and I’, where the head of paediatrics, Dr. Velimir Simov, and his team took care of them.

The children were diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, an impairment of brain function due to reduced oxygen flow to the brain, and with oesophageal atresia, a condition in which the oesophagus does not connect to the stomach, but ends in a “blind pouch” and the ingested food cannot reach the child’s stomach. The rich clinical experience of the Pleven pediatricians, the high-tech equipment with the most advanced capabilities to support and preserve the life of children makes ‘Mama and I’ the only place in the country where adequate intensive, long-term and free care can be provided for children with such severe diagnoses.

“At ‘Mama and I’ we work well with colleagues from all over Bulgaria, no matter whether the hospital is private, municipal or state-owned. We do not hesitate to provide transport and medical team at our own expense, to travel to the farthest point of the country to help our children,” said Dr. Velimir Simov. He specified that the case with the children from the Children’s Hospital in Sofia is not the first for the paediatricians of ‘Mama and I’. Just a few days ago the team in Pleven had also provided assistance to their colleagues from ‘Maichin Dom’ hospital, and young patients from the National Cardiology Hospital in the capital are to be transported to the clinic.

The original article is available here in Bulgarian.

Vital equipment for a child with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) was provided by the Clinic for Maternal and Child Health ‘Mom and Me’ Pleven. The child is one year and eight months old and his care is taken personally by Dr. Velimir Simov – head of the pediatric clinic, and his colleague Dr. Ignat Gramatikov – anesthesiologist.

“The girl suffers from spinal muscular atrophy type 1.  SMA is an autonomic recessive genetic disease that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. About 160 patients have been diagnosed with this rare disease in Bulgaria. They need continuous therapy and long-term complex follow-up of the condition – by pediatricians and pulmonologists, neurologists and orthopedists, gastroenterologists and rehabilitation specialists.  Here, medical genetics specialists are also very helpful. It is extremely convenient for our young patients and their families that all these specialists are in one place in ‘Mama and I’,” Dr. Simov informed.

“The prestigious membership enables the oncologists of ‘Heart and Brain’ to work in the European Cancer Network and thus for the first and only time in Bulgaria patients are provided with access to quality cancer care, personalized and multidisciplinary therapeutic approach based on evidence-based medicine. As part of OECI, we will build on the knowledge and skills of our teams and collaborate with other leading centres in basic, translational and clinical research,” says Assoc. “What impressed me most about the hospital’s presentation was the emphasis on innovation and our remarkable achievements. These include the state-of-the-art molecular pathology and genetics laboratory, which conducts UK and German-certified analyses for all major biomarkers in solid tumors for diagnostic, screening, predictive and/or prognostic purposes, the country’s first cardio-oncology section, which has already received international recognition for its work and has proven that the best patient care is due to the multidisciplinary approach applied only here, and the application of the country’s only Gamma Knife in routine clinical care.