Doctors at the Timofei Moșneaga Clinical Hospital performed their first minimally invasive cardiac surgery. The patient, a 22-year-old woman, had been diagnosed with a congenital heart malformation, called extended atrial septal defect.

Because of the malformation, the blood circulated incorrectly, from the left atrium to the right atrium, overloading the right side of the heart and the lungs. The condition may cause severe complications if left untreated, as was the case with the young woman, who suffered from cardiac insufficiency.

“For the first time, we corrected the malformation (…) through a minimally invasive approach. There are multiple advantages of this intervention compared to the conventional one, that is, through median sternotomy, where the integrity of the chest is affected. In particular, pulmonary complications and hemorrhages during and after the operation are avoided, the scar is much smaller and the complete recovery of patients takes up to four weeks, compared to about four to six months with the conventional method”, says cardiac surgeon Ghenadie Bostan.

Already the second day after surgery, the patient was able to move on her own and breathe much easier than before. The young woman was discharged in good condition.