OREANDA-NEWS  St. Petersburg doctors will perform the first heart transplant operation in Russia for a patient with HIV infection, the city center for the prevention and control of AIDS and infectious diseases reported.

"In St. Petersburg, a patient with HIV infection will have a heart transplant for the first time in the country. A medical selection committee for heart transplantation was held at the Almazov Center. A patient with HIV infection who has been undergoing treatment and observation at the St. Petersburg AIDS Center since 2011 has been unequivocally approved for surgery," the Telegram channel of the medical institution reports.

As noted, the specialists of the Almazov center consider HIV infection exclusively as a concomitant chronic disease. The need for a heart transplant in a patient arose not because of HIV infection, but because of another disease.