After a motorcycle accident, Zdravko Dimov's heart was displaced to the right as a result of severe high-energy chest trauma. But a team from Pirogov University Hospital in Sofia came to the patient's aid and managed to save his life through a complex surgical intervention, performed for the first time in Bulgaria.  In 99% of cases with this trauma, the outcome for patients is lethal. Only 58 such cases have been described worldwide, the Dimov’s case is one of them.

Today, 2 years later, the man is safe and sound and the N. I. Pirogov Multi-profile Active Treatment & Emergency University Hospital team was awarded for Best Presentation at the Congress of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care held in Burgas just a few days ago.

The story with a happy ending

On October 15, 2020, Zdravko Dimov gets into a violent traffic accident. When the 28-year-old military pilot is rushed to the country's largest emergency care center, ER doctors are surprised to find that they are faced with a medical precedent. A chest X-ray and scanner examination revealed that Zdravko's heart had broken off and rotated 90 degrees in the crash. His aorta and pulmonary artery had also rotated to the right.

"The displacement was so severe that we initially thought it was a congenital condition, even though a person with such a birth defect cannot get into aviation. Patients with such injuries usually die at the crash site. However, this boy is a fighter pilot and is in very good condition," explained Assoc. Prof. Rumen Filipov, who performed the unique intervention, together with his colleague Dr. Plamen Parvanov.

The risks of having this type of surgery are that the heart may stop, fill with blood and cardiac death could occur, doctors say. Despite its complexity, the surgery did not last long. The Pirogov University Hospital surgeons repositioned Zdravko's heart and repaired the ruptured pericardium - the sac that surrounds the heart. The man woke up 40 days after the operation, happy to have survived. Today, he leads a full life, exercises regularly and is hoping that one day he will get back on his plane.