About the clinic:
The cardiac surgery clinic’s structure consists of two cardiac surgery departments – one in Pleven and one in Burgas, led respectively by doctors I. Krasnaliev and V. Kornovski.

The departments practice minimally invasive, cutting-edge contemporary operative interventions, consistent with the world’s newest achievements in cardiac surgery. The clinic specializes in treatment of the whole spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, with the exception of transplantations.

The cardiac surgery clinic functions with five complete surgical teams of highly experienced specialists, who continue their professional improvement through constant cooperation with the leading clinics in Europe and around the world. We strive to provide our patients with medical care of the highest European level.

Activities:
The cardiac surgery clinic performs clinical and scientific activities and provides training for PhD candidates, specializing practitioners and students.

Our team has the best expertise in all of Bulgaria regarding minimally invasive mitral valve interventions – reconstruction or prosthetics of the mitral valve using video-assisted operations, through incisions sized from 3 to 5 cm.

Isolated aortic valves routinely receive prosthetics through a 4cm long incision on the upper torso. Our usual practice includes implantation of seamless aortic valves, which have the advantage to considerably shorten ECC operating times during complex cardiac operations.

The highly specialized AORTIC center within our clinic uses the latest methods for treatment of patients with aortic stenosis and other aortic disorders. It is staffed by specially trained personnel: a cardiac surgeon, an invasive cardiologist, a vascular surgeon, a diagnostic imaging specialist, as well as other specialists. The results we achieve in applying transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) and endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) are on par with the achievements of world leaders in the field.

The clinic has vast experience in the surgical treatment of ischemic heart disease (coronary bypass surgery). In over 70% of cases we apply an extremely clinically beneficial operating technique which allows the heart to keep beating during surgery: the off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB). We routinely use more than one arterial graft in order to improve the long-term prognostics for the patients involved.

Our clinic is a national leader in the field of coronary bypass surgery on a beating heart through a minimally invasive access via the 4th left intercostal space (MIDCAB).

Patients with acute aortic dissection are treated according to the most contemporary concepts of aortic surgery – exclusive use of antegrade cerebral perfusion, with moderate hypothermia. We also make regular use of a hybrid approach for the treatment of aortic dissection involving the descending segments of the aorta (surgical prosthetics of the ascending aorta and aortic arch, then endoprosthetics of the descending aorta).