Medical teams in ‘Heart and Brain’ Pleven performed two simultaneous surgeries on a patient with endocarditis and septic infarction

A multidisciplinary team consisting of cardiac and abdominal surgeons in ,Heart and Brain,, Pleven performed a complex surgery for simultaneous removal of the spleen and aortic valve prosthesis under emergency conditions. The patient had bacterial infection of the aortic valve and abscess in the spleen.

“He came to us after initially being treated at another institution for non-specific complaints, but without result. Following his admission to ,Heart and Brain’, we immediately conducted highly specialized investigations and so came the diagnosis – bacterial endocarditis with septic infarction of the spleen. After a discussion with my colleagues we decided to have both teams working simultaneously. The cardiac surgeons had to prosthetic the aortic valve and the abdominal surgeons had to remove the spleen,” said Dr Tsvetomir Ivanov, surgeon at the Oncological and General Surgery Clinic.

Due to the urgency and extreme complexity, both teams had to work simultaneously. The surgeries went smoothly and the patient recovered without complications.

Surgical procedures performed by two or more teams are now routine in the ,Heart and Brain’ Centers of Clinical Excellence. The multidisciplinary approach reduces trauma to the patient and blood loss during surgery is less. Patients recover faster and hospital stays are shorter – these are fundamental preconditions to achieve high outcomes in modern medicine.