Press Release

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Successful start for the ESPOIR study at Moldova State Medical University

A team of Moldavian surgeons, led by Prof. Anatol Ciubotaru, successfully operated the first patient in Chisinau/Mo on Wednesday, 03 September 2014. In an uneventful procedure, the young female patient received a decellularized homograft valve (DHV) as a pulmonary valve replacement and is recovering excellently.

Prof. Ciubotaru has been actively involved in the development and clinical implementation of tissue engineered heart valves over the last fifteen years and the State University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics “Nicolae Testemitanu” was the site of the first clinical implantation of DHV in 2002.

Chisinau is the second clinical centre to begin including patients in the ESPOIR study. Hannover Medical School included the fourth patient on Friday 05 September 2014. 

Pictured are the 21-year-old patient 5 days after her operation together with her treating physicians Oleg Repin, Eduard Cheptanaru and Anatol Ciubotaru.