site.btaFirst Lung Transplantation in Bulgaria

October 27 (BTA) - The first lung transplantation in
Bulgaria was completed in the early hours on Sunday by a team of
 the Lozenets University Hospital in Sofia, led by Doctor Igor
Todorache of the University Hospital in Hanover, and Doctor
Lyubomir Spassov from the Lozenets Hospital, the Health Ministry
 said in a press release Sunday.

The operation started at around 10.30 PM on October 26 and was
completed at 4.30 AM on Sunday.

The patient is a 70-year-old man with acute respiratory failure
due to pulmonary fibrosis. The patient is in intensive care. 

As noted by the Mediapool.bg e-zine, the performance of the
first lung transplantation in Bulgaria took place much earlier
than expected and also earlier than the official estimations of
the Health Ministry which had planned it for 2020-2021,
following training of Bulgarian teams in Austria.

Bulgaria now has 18 patients waiting for lung transplantations.
Up until now their only chance was for a transplantation abroad.
 However, the performance of such operations in the only
European hospital that accepted Bulgarians, a hospital in
Vienna, had been suspended in the past two years due to
outstanding issues with the Bulgarian authorities. Several
Bulgarian patients died during the suspension, Mediapool.bg
recalls. RY/ZH
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