A unique life-saving operation was performed at the University Multi-Prof. Dr. Stoyan Kirkovich Hospital in Stara Zagora.
A medical team managed to stabilize a 101-year-old man from the Yambol village of Vodenichane.
The centenarian was admitted as an emergency after a domestic accident.
101-year-old Angel Nedelchev says that he felt sick, stumbled and fell on the stove in his home.
"Well, that was a big blow, okay. I can't get up, I was lying down".
His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was urgently transported to Stara Zagora in critical condition, with four broken ribs, a torn pleura and significant blood loss. He was admitted to the thoracic surgery clinic, where, due to his advanced age and severe respiratory failure, the doctors assessed that the elderly man should be operated on through a minimally invasive intervention, since full anesthesia poses a high risk.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Valchev: "At this age, with this pathology, if the patient had undergone a surgical procedure under general anesthesia, the outcome would most likely not have been successful".
The team, led by Prof. Dr. Daniel Valchev, is undertaking a unique video-assisted surgery, performed under local anesthesia.
The operation was successful, and the patient is already recovering.
According to Prof. Valchev, such operations in patients over 100 years old are extremely rare even worldwide.
The applied methodology will be included in a new textbook on thoracic surgery under the auspices of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.