Emergency health services in Bulgaria.

The emergency care system in Bulgaria is evolving as a hybrid of the former "Soviet-style" health service and western-style emergency medicine. Bulgaria like other "Eastern bloc" Communist nations has undergone a sweeping socioeconomic transformation during the past 10 years. These changes have had profound consequences including the development of emergency services and the recognition of emergency medicine as a specialty in Bulgaria.

Thoracolumbar distraction fractures in advanced pregnancy: a contribution of two case reports.

Thoracolumbar trauma in pregnant women is an important topic, though rarely discussed in the pertinent literature. Two consecutive cases of thoracolumbar distraction injuries in advanced pregnancy are presented. Conservative treatment failed in both cases; surgical management was necessary on a delayed basis using compression instrumentation.

Severe fracture-dislocation of S1 in a 12-year-old boy. A case report.

Study Design: This study analyzes an unusual case of severe fracture-dislocation of S1 in a child.

Objectives: To provide a better understanding of a rare pediatric sacral injury based on a successfully treated patient.

Summary Of Background Data: Literature on sacral fractures in children is limited to a few case reports.

Orthopaedic trauma in children less than three years old: the orthopaedist's and pediatrician's problem.

A retrospective study of children under three years old with orthopaedic trauma (fractures and soft-tissue injuries of the extremities) from a selected five-year period (1987-1991) was performed in Pirogov Emergency Medical Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria. This study confirmed that these kinds of injuries have an excellent prognosis owing to the specific features of the growing skeleton; however, this excellent prognosis in small children is not guaranteed unless pediatricians, orthopaedists, and parents collaborate closely. Particularly, pediatricians in primary care settings play an especially important role in this respect.