The first Romanian doctor to perform a bone marrow transplant on an adult died of COVID-19



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Romania records a record number of deaths due to the new coronavirus on Tuesday. 60 people have died in the last 24 hours, killed by Covid-19.

Among them is one of the most respected doctors in the country. This is Professor Istvan Benedek, who 19 years ago performed the first bone marrow transplant in an adult.

The operation took place for the first time at the center he was running at the time in Târgu Mureș. She not died in Târgu Murepenter on the night from Monday to Tuesday, in the intensive care unit of the Institute of Cardiology.

Professor Benedek was 71 years old and although he had retired, he came to the clinic every day. In early August, 11 members of the medical staff at the hematology clinic were diagnosed with Covid-19, including the head of the unit, Professor Benedek. The clinic was closed and the doctor arrived at the Târgu Mureş Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, after his condition worsened.

Dr. Kopeczy Judith, doctor at the Hematology and Transplant Clinic: “Since 2000 we started transplantation from scratch in Romania, he was a pioneer and we worked together until the last moment.”

Under his leadership, the Spinal Cord Transplantation Department was established in Târgu Mureş, where every year hundreds of patients with leukemia or other blood diseases come to find their cure.

Dr. Benedek Istvan, Head of the Clinic for Hematology and Spinal Cord Transplantation in Târgu Mureş: “I may die not from the disease or the transplant, but from the complications, the infections.”

Professor Istvan Benedek was the author of several medical awards: the first bone marrow transplant in an adult patient 19 years ago. He also performed the same procedure for the first time in patients with acute leukemia.

For the first time in the country, Professor Benedek managed to treat a patient with multiple sclerosis with a bone marrow transplant, but he also suffered from an autoimmune disease. In addition, he had the courage to take steps in an exciting field for the scientific world: the injection of stem cells into the coronary arteries of patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction.

Claudiu Puiac, Director of the Târgu Mureş County Emergency Clinical Hospital: “I am sure that from there he will look at us and see to it that the hematology school is developed.”

Professor Istvan Bendek has completed his mission to save lives. Thanks to your passion for medicine and your courage to pioneer this field, you will live through each of the thousands of cured patients.

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