The research team from the Clinic of Cardiac Surgery and Vascular Surgery at the Medical University of Gdańsk has made an experimental implantation of an original heart valve prosthesis made of bacterial nanocellulose in three sheep – informs the university on its website.

The operations were carried out in the experimental medicine laboratory of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium – a world-renowned center specializing in preclinical studies of various bioimplants in cardiac surgery. The operations were successful, now the half-year period of observation began with the aim to check the functioning of the implanted heart valve and examine any degenerative changes within the applied bioimplant.

Cooperation between the Gdańsk University and the University of Leuven began in 2016 with joint research on the possibility of using Polish bionanocellulose in regenerative medicine in the aspect of bioimplants in cardiac surgery and vascular surgery.