Christiaan Barnard, a South African cardiac surgeon performed the first human heart transplant on December 3, 1967. He transplanted the heart of 25-year-old accident victim Denise Darvall into a 54-year-old grocer named Louis Washkansky.
The operation took place at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa and was technically a success. Washkansky’s body did not reject the heart and he regained consciousness post-operation. However, the immunosuppressive (anti-rejection) drugs he was forced to take, weakened his immune system and he contracted pneumonia. He passed away 18 days later.
Barnard went on to become an international celebrity as a result of the transplant. The high risk of organ rejection by the recipient prevented other surgeons from trying their hand at this form of surgery. It was only when the drug cyclosporine began to be used (to suppress the immune system from rejecting a transplanted organ) that the risks involved in this sort of surgery reduced.
The Groote Schuur Hospital set up the ‘Heart of Cape Town Museum’ in honour of those involved in the first surgery. This year marks 55 years since this medical leap.
Picture Credit : Google
