Doctors at the new St Anastasia Children's Hospital in Burgas have saved a 15-year-old girl after a five-hour operation.
The girl was born with a defect of the large intestine. Hospitals had treated her for years without success. She arrived in a serious condition. For five days before that, her abdomen had been badly swollen, with bouts of severe pain. Tests found the defect.
The surgical team included Prof Ognyan Brankov, Dr Plamen Kozhuharov, Dr Samuil Valchanov and Dr Ventsislav Dimov.
Prof Brankov said the X-ray taken when she was admitted already showed she needed surgery. The defect is common in other children too, but in this girl the bowel had started to twist, and in the last few days the twisting had become irreversible.
Dr Valchanov described the condition as fairly rare. He said it is even rarer in children and usually affects young ones.
"The whole case was a challenge, because it is rare for children to need this much surgery in one operation," Dr Kozhuharov told BNT.
The girl is eating and moving around, and her overall condition is good.
Her mother told BNT they had been through many hospitals and a lot of pain before she was saved. "I had almost no hope. She was in so much pain. And while she cried, I cried with her," she said.
As a little girl, she wanted to be a doctor. After the operation, she is sure she wants to be a surgeon.