Author: BCI

Author of a number of scientific papers in international publications, today he is at the heart of one of the most advanced electrophysiology and cardiac pacing laboratories in Bulgaria. He has worked with some of the world’s greatest luminaries in electrophysiology. In his practice, he has saved lives and placed a pacemaker on a 101-year-old patient.

Together with the team from the Laboratory of Electrophysiology and Cardiac Pacing at ‘Heart and Brain’ Burgas we are preparing a publication that will allow us to present ourselves to the international scientific community in medicine. We want to be on the world map by trying to advance science.”

You can hear the full news story here.

Treating sleep apnea not only improves sleep quality, but helps manage high blood pressure

Familiar nocturnal snoring, 40-50 seconds without air, pulse rate accelerates to 120, blood oxygen level drops by half, until a person snores to take a breath. And so dozens of times an hour, every night. That snoring prevents others from sleeping and you wake up tired is a nuisance to say the least. All of these symptoms signal a serious health problem that should not be underestimated, and the condition is known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea and hypertension increasingly go hand in hand and have their serious consequences, sometimes even fatal, warns Dr. Ilia Krachunov, head of the pulmonology department at Heart and Brain Hospital in Pleven. He is one of the few specialists in Pleven dealing with the treatment of the disease. In his ten years of experience Dr. Krachunov has helped over 1500 patients with this health problem and over 100 patients since the beginning of the year.

The full article is available here in Bulgarian.

Hypertension Day: over 50% of Bulgarians have high blood pressure

Busy lives, food, sleep deprivation, everything can have an impact

More than half of the Bulgarian population has high blood pressure, and the number of young people with established hypertension is growing. At the same time, our country ranks first in cardiovascular mortality in the European Union.

Read the full story here in Bulgarian.

In 2021, the most advanced Gamma Knife in the Balkans and the only one in Bulgaria will start working in the Heart and Brain Hospital, Pleven. It is the first to enable the use of the well-known for decades in radiotherapy technique for non-invasive positioning and immobilization of patients with individually modellable pads and thermoplastic masks. The next-generation technology builds on the proven foundation of previous models and provides a number of new technological and clinical capabilities, the most significant of which is non-invasive immobilization as an alternative to the old invasive stereotactic framework without compromising unrivaled accuracy. The new Gamma Knife model enables fractionated radiosurgery, stereotactic image guidance and adaptation of the dosimetry plan to the current position, position monitoring and real-time irradiation control. Bulgaria not only now has the technical capability and a team of trained specialists to perform Gamma Knife radiosurgery, but our country has a top-of-the-range device, better than most that would treat Bulgarian patients abroad.

In January 2021, the team of the Radiotherapy Centre of “Heart and Brain”, Pleven – radiotherapists, medical physicists and radiotherapy laboratory technicians under the leadership of Dr. Rumen Lazarov, performed the first Gamma Knife radiosurgery in Bulgaria, in collaboration with the imaging, neurosurgery and neurology units of the hospital and in the presence of two world leading clinical specialists in the field (a physician and a medical physicist). In just over two years, nearly 400 patients have been treated with stereotactic robotic radiosurgery in Pleven, mainly with brain metastases (including multiple at the same time), benign tumours, some cases of primary malignant brain tumours, vascular malformations and functional conditions (trigeminal neuralgia). Radiosurgery is routinely administered both within a day and fractionated over several days. Compared to other radiosurgery systems, the Gamma Knife allows for a tenfold reduction in radiation dose to the body, allowing brain radiosurgery to be performed even in pregnant women.

The full text of the article is available here in Bulgarian.

With free check-ups and consultations with leading cardiologists, a school for patients and outreach check-ups, the hospitals and medical centers of the Bulgarian Cardiology Institute celebrate this year’s World Hypertension Day – May 17. About the initiatives on the ground inform the management of the medical institutions.

Already today, /16 May/ in ‘Heart and Brain’ Pleven will open its doors to patients. It is an initiative of the Clinic of Cardiology under the leadership of prof. Yana Simova. Leading cardiologists at the hospital will consult and inform patients about the risks of hypertension, methods of prevention and give advice on healthy lifestyle. The aim is to raise awareness of the disease and the role of prevention, early detection and treatment of high blood pressure.

‘Heart and Brain’ Burgas joins the initiative with outreach consultations at central locations in Burgas and Sozopol, where cardiologists will measure the blood pressure of citizens, determine the cardiac risk and contribute to improving awareness, prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases.

Free cardiological check-ups are also organised by the specialised cardiology hospitals in Yambol and Shumen. In Yambol, free consultations will be held at the Yambol Cardiology Medical Centre from 10.00 to 18.00. Free consultations with leading cardiologists at the hospital in Shumen are scheduled from 11.00 to 16.00.

On May 17, the Specialized Cardiology Hospital in Veliko Tarnovo will conduct free blood pressure measurements and consultations for citizens. The examinations and consultations will be carried out by cardiology specialists in the centre of the old capital.

The Specialized Cardiology Hospital in Pleven continues with the outreach cardiology examinations in small settlements. They are completely free of charge and take place according to a preliminary schedule, covering the whole of North-West Bulgaria. The dates are announced in advance so that residents can make the most of the initiative. In May, there will be screenings in 11 locations – in the municipalities of Vidin, Boychinovtsi, Byala Slatina. The schedule for June is also ready. Mayors and personal doctors who wish to take part in the initiative can contact the hospital at 064 804-480.

World Hypertension Day has been celebrated since 2005 on the initiative of the World Hypertension League, with the main aim of raising public awareness of the disease and thus improving prevention.

According to the World Health Organization, 1.28 billion adults aged 30-79 years worldwide have hypertension, with the majority (two-thirds) living in low- and middle-income countries

Approximately 46% of adults with hypertension do not know they have the disease.

Less than half of adults (42%) with hypertension are diagnosed and treated.

Approximately 1 in 5 adults (21%) with hypertension have it under control.

Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.

Statistics show that the lower age limit of hypertension is falling and there are now recorded cases of children with this disease. The actual number of people suffering from arterial hypertension exceeds the statistics. The reason for this is that Bulgarians rarely have preventive examinations and seek specialist cardiological care when the symptoms of hypertension are already pronounced and their quality of life is deteriorating.

Stress, smoking, daily use of alcohol, poor diet and insufficient exercise are the main factors for many diseases of the cardiovascular system. Regardless of the cause of hypertension, the consequences of not treating it can be serious. It increases the risk of stroke, acute myocardial infarction, kidney failure, affects vision and inflicts many other damages because high blood pressure can strike all the organs in our body.