The rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 globally will challenge the accessibility and the delivery of physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) services. Many health care systems throughout the world performed effective reforms such as the transition to telerehabilitation (TR). In Bulgaria, TR is still not regulated by law, and terms such as teleconsultation and tele-education have not yet been introduced. The adoption of TR in the Bulgarian health care system will undoubtedly increase the accessibility to rehabilitation treatment for a larger group of Bulgarian patients with various neurological, cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and oncological conditions and will significantly contribute to the PRM services modernization in Bulgaria.

The InterCriteria Analysis approach is applied to data connected with the field of oncology. The statistical data for newly registered patients with oncological diseases for 2018 in Burgas are studied. The results are commented from different points of view: relations between gender and age of the patients, relations between gender and marital status.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent joint disease and one of the leading causes of disability, poor physical activity levels (PAL), and quality of life (Qol) of elderly people worldwide. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the superiority of a novel group-based physical therapy (GBPT) intervention compared to a more traditional one-to-one individual physical therapy (IPT) among elderly Bulgarian subjects underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA). One hundred and thirty elderly TKA recipients of both genders with mean age=72.69±0.44 were randomly assigned to GBPT or to one-to-one IPT. Elderly participants were assessed at baseline and at 3 and 6 months after both rehabilitation interventions, with the use of the following evaluation tools: Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and Short Form Health Survey questionnaire (SF-36v2). At 6 months elderly TKA recipients who received GBPT achieved 7.36 points more in the PASE questionnaire when compared with the IPT group. Elderly participants of the GBPT group walked significantly longer distance during the 6MWT than TKA recipients attended IPT, respectively 421.56 m vs. 398.62 m, (p< 0.001). Furthermore, significantly greater improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was obtained from the elderly participants of the GBPT arm compared with the participants of the IPT arm, respectively 70, 7% vs. 60, 8% at 6 months follow up. We conclude that our results suggest the superiority of the GBPT in terms of PAL (PASE score, 6MWT) and HRQoL among elderly TKA recipients across the first 6 months.

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Slowly but surely, hyperbaric ox y gen a tion is es tab lished as a method of treat ment for many dis eases. Aim of our work is to pres ent the ex pe ri ence of the De part ment of hyperbaric med i cine at VMA MBAL Varna in the treat ment of pa tients with Hyperbaric Ox y gen. The study cov ers the pe riod 1992-2011. A multiplace hyperbaric cham ber at a pres sure of 2 to 2.8 ATA 100% ox y gen is used.It is an a lyzed dis tri bu tion of pa tients passed through the de part ment by years and nosological units. It is con cluded that it has gained solid ex pe rience, which is a good ba sis for fur ther de vel op ment and ex pan sion of indications for hyperbaric oxygenation.