Dec. 3, 1967: Patient Dies, but First Heart Transplant a Success | WIRED Dec. 3, 1967: Patient Dies, but First Heart Transplant a Success subscribe 6 months for $5 - plus a FREE Portable Phone Charger. Author: Tony Long. Tony Long Science Date of Publication: 12.03.07. Time of Publication: 12:00 pm. 12:00 pm Dec. 3, 1967: Patient Dies, but First Heart Transplant a Success Surgeon Christian Barnard shows an X-ray image of Louis Washkansky's chest taken during the first heart transplant. Photo: Bettman / Corbis 1967: The first human-to-human heart transplant is performed. The operation is a success, but the patient dies after complications set in. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact wiredlabs@wired.com to report an issue.

South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard , who prepared for this day by performing a number of experimental heart transplants involving dogs, led a 30-member surgical team in implanting the heart of a young woman into 53-year-old Louis Washkansky, a Cape Town grocer suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease. Washkansky received the heart of Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who was left brain-dead following an automobile accident the day before. She was removed from life support, and her father gave permission for her heart to be given to Washkansky. The transplant, performed at Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital , was a success. Washkansky's body did not reject the heart, due in large part to the immunosuppressive drugs he received. But those drugs also weakened his immune system, and he contracted double pneumonia, which killed him 18 days after the transplant. Barnard, who became an international celebrity (and reveled in it) as a result of the transplant, soldiered on. Over the next several years he performed additional heart transplants, with the survival times for his patients gradually improving.

One patient, Dorothy Fisher, survived for 24 years after receiving a new heart in 1969. Other surgeons, however, weren't as bullish on transplant surgery, because of the high risk of organ rejection by the recipient. It wasn't until cyclosporine came into widespread use in the early 1980s that an effective means of reducing that risk was found. After that, organ-transplant surgery took off. Barnard, meanwhile, became more interested in anti-aging research, and his reputation took a hit when he lent his name to Glycel, an anti-aging skin cream that in the end did nothing at all to slow the process. Barnard died in 2001. (Source: Various) First Human-to-Human Heart Transplant is Performed | World History Project First Human-to-Human Heart Transplant is Performed I was 15 years old when Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant. I still have the Life magazine cover. My dad was a cardiologist, so the drama carried out in the public's imagination was reinforced by my respect for the practice of medicine and discovery.

My ultimate choice of going into surgery and then into heart surgery and then heart transplantation I trace back to that single operation. This procedure reversed what had been inevitable death from heart disease, restoring the opportunity of new life. It demonstrated the ability of an individual working with a team to revolutionize health care. The interesting thing is that it was the relatively inexperienced Barnard who made history in the new field. He beat to the punch—and undercut—more systematic and more disciplined scientists and surgeons of the time. Dr. Norman Shumway of Stanford University (who was my mentor) had patiently and with great rigor made a decade of systematic research by writing papers, teaching others and working through the challenges of the procedure. Barnard, who watched some of these procedures being carried out when he trained in the U.S., went back to South Africa and—with very little background and at the age of 45—seized the moment and performed this transplant. His patient died 18 days later, for Barnard was racing ahead of medicine's understanding of tissue rejection. But the pioneering spirit of that operation captured me at the time. Frist is majority leader of the U.S.

Senate Source: Bill Frist Added by: Kevin Rogers 1967: The first human-to-human heart transplant is performed. The operation is a success, but the patient dies after complications set in. South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who prepared for this day by performing a number of experimental heart transplants involving dogs, led a 30-member surgical team in implanting the heart of a young woman into 53-year-old Louis Washkansky, a Cape Town grocer suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease. Washkansky received the heart of Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who was left brain-dead following an automobile accident the day before. She was removed from life support, and her father gave permission for her heart to be given to Washkansky. The transplant, performed at Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital, was a success. Washkansky's body did not reject the heart, due in large part to the immunosuppressive drugs he received. But those drugs also weakened his immune system, and he contracted double pneumonia, which killed him 18 days after the transplant.

Barnard, who became an international celebrity (and reveled in it) as a result of the transplant, soldiered on. Over the next several years he performed additional heart transplants, with the survival times for his patients gradually improving. One patient, Dorothy Fisher, survived for 24 years after receiving a new heart in 1969. Other surgeons, however, weren't as bullish on transplant surgery, because of the high risk of organ rejection by the recipient. It wasn't until cyclosporine came into widespread use in the early 1980s that an effective means of reducing that risk was found. After that, organ-transplant surgery took off. Barnard, meanwhile, became more interested in anti-aging research, and his reputation took a hit when he lent his name to Glycel, an anti-aging skin cream that in the end did nothing at all to slow the process. Barnard died in 2001. Source: Tony Long Added by: Kevin Rogers "On Saturday, I was a surgeon in South Africa, very little known. On Monday, I was world renowned." That's how Dr.

Christiaan Barnard recalled events in December of 1967, when he became the first surgeon to perform a heart transplant on a human being. Barnard was the son of a rather poor Afrikaner preacher and his wife, and grew up in Beaufort West, a town on South Africa's semi-arid Great Karroo plateau. He studied medicine at the University of Cape Town and at the University of Minnesota. In Minneapolis he began helping researchers who were working on a heart-lung machine, and soon switched his specialty from general surgery to cardiology and cardiothoracic (heart-lung) surgery. By 1967, Barnard was senior cardiothoracic surgeon at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, where he had introduced open heart surgery and other pioneering surgical procedures. He had spent many years experimenting with heart transplantation, mostly with dogs. The first successful kidney transplant had been done in 1954, opening this exciting surgical frontier. Barnard had a patient, 55-year-old Louis Washkansky, who had diabetes and incurable heart disease.

Washkansky could either wait for certain death or risk transplant surgery with an 80 percent chance of surviving. He chose the surgery. As Barnard later wrote, "For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side. But you would never accept such odds if there were no lion." Early in December of 1967, Denise Darvall, a woman in her mid-20s, was fatally injured in an automobile accident. She had had the same blood type as Washkansky. She died shortly after arriving at the hospital, but her heart was still healthy. In a five-hour operation on December 3, Barnard successfully replaced Washkansky's diseased heart with the healthy heart. He knew it was a surgical success when he first applied electrodes and it resumed beating. Washkansky lived for only 18 days more, dying of double pneumonia as a result of his suppressed immune system. It was a milestone, however, in a new field of life-extending surgery.

Barnard was celebrated around the world for his daring accomplishment. Handsome and only 45 years old at the time, he graced the covers of magazines, toured the world, and became quite a popular figure. He enjoyed his fame, but it strained his marriage of 21 years. His first wife was a nurse who had helped support him while he developed his career as a surgeon. They were divorced in 1969, and Barnard married his second wife the following year. This marriage, too, ended after 12 years. He married for a third time. He had five children, spanning 32 years, but one of his sons died at age 31. Barnard had been bothered by rheumatoid arthritis since he was young, and advancing stiffness in his hands forced his retirement from surgery in 1983. He took up writing, however, and wrote a cardiology text, a (sometimes sensational) autobiography, and several novels, including a thriller about organ transplants. He lives on a 32,000 acre sheep farm and game preserve in the Karroo region where he grew up, where he reintroduced wildebeest and springbok.

He has just two regrets in his long and eventful career. First, he endorsed an "anti-ageing" skin cream in 1986, which turned out to be of dubious effectiveness and was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1987. Although his endorsement made him a great deal of money, it tarnished his medical reputation. His only other regret was not fighting harder against South Africa's policy of apartheid. "I opposed it whenever I could," he said. "But I didn't stick my neck out." A Brief History of Heart Transplantation | Columbia University Department of Surgery Cardiac Transplant Program A Brief History of Heart Transplantation Long before human-to-human transplantation was ever imagined by the public, scientists were conducting pioneering medical and surgical research that would eventually lead to today's transplantation successes. From the late 1700s until the early 1900s, the field of immunology was slowly evolving through the works of numerous independent scientists. Among the notable breakthroughs were Ehrlich's discovery of antibodies and antigens, Lansteiner's blood typing, and Metchnikoff's theory of host resistance.

Because of advances in suturing techniques at the end of the 19th century, surgeons began to transplant organs in their lab research. At the start of the 20th century, enough experimentation had taken place to know that xenographic (cross species) transplants invariably failed, allogenic transplants (between individuals of same species) usually failed, while autografts (within the same individual, generally skin grafts) were almost always successful. It was also understood that repeat transplants between same donor and recipient experienced accelerated rejection, and that graft success was more likely when the donor and recipient shared a "blood relationship." Alexis Carrel was a French surgeon and Nobel laureate whose experiments involved sustaining life in animal organs outside the body. He received the 1912 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his technique for suturing blood vessels. In the 1930s, he collaborated with the aviator Charles Lindbergh to invent a mechanical heart that circulated vital fluids through excised organs. Various organs and animal tissues were kept alive for many years in this fashion. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, small but steady research advances were made.

In 1958, Dickinson Richards, MD, chairman of the Columbia University Medical Division, and Andre Cournaud were awarded the same Nobel Prize for their work leading to fuller understanding of the physiology of the human heart using cardiac catheterization. In that same year, Keith Reemtsma, MD, a member of the faculty of Tulane University who later became chairman of the Department of Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, showed for the first time that immunosuppressive agents would prolong heart transplant survival in the laboratory setting. At this time, Norman Shumway, MD, Richard Lower, MD, and their associates at Stanford University Medical Center were embarking on the development of heart-lung machines, solving perfusion issues, and pioneering surgical procedures to correct heart valve defects. Key to their success was experimentation with "topical hypothermia," the localized hyper-cooling of the heart which allowed the interruption of blood flow and gave the surgeons the proper blood-free environment and adequate time to perform the repairs. Next came "autotransplantation," where the heart would be excised and resutured in place.

By the mid-1960s, the Shumway group was convinced that immunologic rejection was the only remaining obstacle to successful clinical heart transplantation. In 1967, Michael DeBakey, MD, implanted a artificial left ventricle device of his design in a patient at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In 1967, a human heart from one person was transplanted into the body of another by a South African surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town. In early December, Dr. Barnard's surgical team removed the heart of a 25-year-old woman who had died following an auto accident and placed it in the chest of Louis Washkansky, a 55-year-old man dying of heart damage. The patient survived for 18 days. Dr. Barnard had learned much of his technique from studying with the Stanford group. This first clinical heart transplantation experience stimulated world-wide notoriety, and many surgeons quickly co-opted the procedure. However, because many patients were dying soon after, the number of heart transplants dropped from 100 in 1968, to just 18 in 1970.

It was recognized that the major problem was the body's natural tendency to reject the new tissues. Over the next 20 years, important advances in tissue typing and immunosuppressant drugs allowed more transplant operations to take place and increased patients' survival rates. The most notable development in this area was Jean Borel's discovery of cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant drug derived from soil fungus, in the mid 1970s. The cardiac transplant program at Columbia University Medical Center began in 1971 as part of an investigational surgery program initiated by Dr. Keith Reemtsma. At that time, Columbia University Medical Center was one of only a handful of medical centers in the nation actively engaged in cardiac transplant research. Columbia University Medical Center's first cardiac transplant was performed by Dr. Reemtsma in 1977, when survival rates had begun to improve significantly. That patient survived for 14 months. Two additional transplants were performed that year. Initially Columbia University Medical Center accepted patients deemed too risky for transplantation by Stanford and the Medical College of Virginia, the only other medical centers in the country performing heart transplants.

Thanks to the persistence of pioneers in immunosuppression research, transplant patients have dramatically expanded life expectancies. The first immunosuppressant drugs used in organ transplantation were the corticosteroids. In 1983, Columbia University Medical Center became one of a small group of medical centers to initiate clinical trials of cyclosporine, which was approved for commercial use in November of that year, and is still today the most commonly prescribed immunosuppressant used in organ transplantation. General information on the variety of medications that may be prescribed for you is found in the chapter on Medications in the section Care and Concerns after Your Operation. In 1984, the world's first successful pediatric heart transplant was performed at Columbia on a four-year-old boy. He received a second transplant in 1989 and lived until he succumbed to other health issues in 2006. Also in 1984, in Loma Linda, California, Leonard Bailey, MD, implanted a baboon heart into a 12-day-old girl who came to be known as "Baby Fae." The infant survived for twenty days as the most famous recipient of xenographic transplantation.

Throughout the decade of the 1980s and into the 90s, physicians continue to refine techniques for balancing dosages of immunosuppressant medications to protect the new heart yet allow the patient sufficient immunologic function to stave off infection. In 1994 a new drug, tacrolimus or FK-506, originally discovered in a fungus sample, was approved for immunosuppression in transplant patients. Newer formulations of cyclosporine now enable efficacy (effectiveness) at lower, less toxic dosages. While research on transplantation issues continues, other techniques for the management and cure of heart disease are also under development. Some future directions include: Coronary assist devices and mechanical hearts are being developed or perfected to perform the functions of live tissues. Artificial hearts have been under development since the 1950s. In 1966, Dr. DeBakey first successfully implanted a booster pump as a temporary assist device. Columbia's cardiac surgeons have been instrumental in the development of a LVAD (left ventricular assist device) to function as a bridge-to-transplantation for those waiting for a new heart to become available.

Columbia University Medical Center's lead role in the REMATCH clinical trial helped to lead to approval for the the LVAD as a permanent, or destination, therapy as well. In 1969, Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first completely artificial heart in a human, again on a temporary basis. The first permanent artificial heart, designed by Dr. Robert Jarvik, was implanted in 1982. Numbers of patients have received Jarvik or other artificial hearts since, but surviving recipients have tended to suffer strokes and related problems. There is a tremendous gap in the number of patients waiting for new hearts and the number of organs that actually become available. In addition to avoiding the immunosuppression and rejection complications of transplantation, success in clinical application of such mechanical devices can help resolve the issue of organ availability and thus, stakes are high to continue research in this arena. Advances in immunosuppression have most recently involved the development and expanded use of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to counteract steroid-resistant rejection. Research continues into the management, reversal and avoidance of accelerated atherosclerosis in the transplanted heart, believed to be caused or aggravated by the required suppression of the body's normal immunology.

From the development of more powerful and specific immunosuppressants to new treatments for accelerated graft atherosclerosis, advances in the science of immunology appear to hold the key to expanding the success of heart transplantation in our treatment of end-stage cardiac disease. 1st human heart transplant... - RareNewspapers.com 1st human heart transplant... THE RUSSELL DAILY NEWS, Kansas, December 4, 1967 * 1st human heart transplant (historic) * Surgery - Surgeon - Medical * Christiaan Neethling Barnard This 6 page newspaper has a three column headline on the front page: "Heart Transplant Appears Success". This is a first report on the very 1st human heart transplant performed by Doctor Chris Barnard. Other news of the day. A few small binding holes along the spine, otherwise in good condition. wikipedia notes: Following the first successful kidney transplant in 1953, in the United States, Barnard performed the first kidney transplant in South Africa in October 1967. Barnard experimented for several years with animal heart transplants. More than 50 dogs received transplanted hearts.

With the availability of new breakthroughs introduced by several pioneers, amongst them Norman Shumway, several surgical teams were in a position to prepare for a human heart transplant. Barnard had a patient willing to undergo the procedure, but as with other surgeons, he needed a suitable donor. [who?] He performed the world's first human heart transplant operation on 3 December 1967, in an operation assisted by his brother, Marius Barnard; the operation lasted nine hours and used a team of thirty people. The patient, Louis Washkansky, was a 54-year-old grocer, suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease. Barnard later wrote, "For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water, convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side." The donor heart came from a young woman, Denise Darvall, who had been killed in a December 2, 1967, road accident while crossing a street in Cape Town.

After securing permission from Darvall's father to use her heart, Barnard performed the transplant. Twenty years later, Dr. Marius Barnard recounted, "Chris stood there for a few moments, watching, then stood back and said, 'It works.'" [who?] Washkansky survived the operation and lived for eighteen days. However, he succumbed to pneumonia induced by the Immunosuppressive drugs he was taking. Though the first patient with the heart of another human being survived for only a little more than two weeks, Barnard had passed a milestone in a new field of life-extending surgery. Barnard became an international superstar overnight and was celebrated around the world for his daring accomplishment. He was quite photogenic, and enjoyed the media attention following the operation. Barnard continued to perform heart transplants. A transplant operation was conducted on 2 January 1968, and the patient, Philip Blaiberg, survived for 19 months. Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became the first black recipient. She lived for 12 years 6 months after the transplant.

Dirk van Zyl, who received a new heart in 1971, was the longest-lived recipient, surviving over 23 years. Barnard performed ten orthotopic transplants (1967 – 1973). He was also the first to perform a heterotopic heart transplant, an operation that he himself devised. Forty-nine consecutive heterotopic heart transplants were performed in Cape Town between 1975 and 1984. When many surgeons — disillusioned by poor results — gave up cardiac transplantation, Barnard persisted until the advent of cyclosporin, which helped revive the operation throughout the world. He was also the first surgeon to attempt xenograft transplantation in a human patient, while attempting to save the life of a young girl unable to leave artificial life support after a second aortic valve replacement. He was later accused of wrongdoing by her parents. Heart Transplants - Dr C.N. Barnard Heart Transplants Dr. Christiaan N.

Barnard 8th November 1922 - 2nd September 2001 Here's that quote from him that we used to produce our promotion postcard " for a dying person, a transplant is not a difficult decision. If a lion chases you to a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side. But you would never accept such odds if there were no lion." A Heart transplant occurs when the malfunctioning heart and muscles are replaced with a functioning heart-usually of a person who just died. It is very complex and time consuming and the availability is usually low. It is done only in emergencies. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the first person to operate on a human heart and that a life depended on your success or failure? Have you ever wondered how exciting it would be to cause a worldwide breakthrough in medical technology that could end up saving millions of lives? This great feat was accomplished by the surgeon, Dr. Christiaan (Neethling) Barnard from South Africa who was the first person to perform a human heart transplant on December 3, 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa.

It was done at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on Louis Washkansky, an ill South African grocer who would most certainly die without the transplant. Accompany and take part in one of the most important medical performances in the course of history. Experience amazement to the wonders of the human heart as well as fear, hope, pressure and joy for the surgeons and the patient. This important breakthrough introduced to South Africa and to the world another significant way to prolong life. Dr. Barnard is also credited with developing a new design for artificial heart valves, doing heart transplanting on animals, and correcting the problem of the blood supply to the fetus during pregnancy. With the dedicated and unrelentless efforts of Dr. Barnard and his team ,the survival rates of 50% of the patients to at least 5 years of living after heart surgery. This famous trip will be quite memorable and the medical procedure will leave you fascinated. Christiaan Barnard Biography Beginnings: Christiaan Neethling Barnard was born in the small, sleepy town of Beaufort West in the Western Cape, South Africa on November 8, 1922.

His father, Adam Barnard, was a church pastor and his mother Maria played the church organ. Chris was one of five boys. One of his brothers, Abraham, died at the age of five from a heart disease. This may have been the reason for Chris's future walk in life. Many years later, Chris's younger brother Marius would be appointed as his right-hand man in the Departement of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Cape Town. He matriculated from the Beaufort West High School in 1940 and in 1946 completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB, ChB) at the University of Cape Town. The family was by no means rich and the young Chris Barnard had to walk five miles to University each day. He was not an outstanding student, but worked hard. His early career: He served his internship at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. He married Aletta Louw in 1948 and they had two children, Andre and Deirdre. After his marriage he moved to the picturesque town of Ceres, in the Western Cape, where he served as a family physician until 1951.

He returned to Cape Town in 1951 and worked at the City Hospital as the Senior Resident Medical Officer and the Registrar, Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital. He continued to study in the evenings and received the degree, Master of Medicine (MMed) from the University of Cape Town in 1953. In the same year he got his MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree from the same university for a dissertation entitled "The treatment of tuberulous Meningitis". After receiving these degrees, he was given a promotion to that of Registrar (resident) in the Department of Surgery, under Professor J. Erasmus, at Groote Schuur Hospital, in Cape Town. In 1956 he received a Charles Adams Memorial Scholarshop and a Dazian Foundation Bursary for a two year study in the United States of America. Leaving his small family behind, Doctor Chris Barnard travelled to America where he spent, according the man himself, the most fascinating time in his life.

He was trained in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in Minnesota and received his Master of Science in Surgery in 1958, for a thesis entitled, "The aortic valve - problems in the fabrication and testing of a prosthetic valve". In the same year he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy afor his dissertation entitled "The aetiology of congenital intestinal atresia". He returned to South Africa armed with a United States public health grant for further research into the field of cardiac surgery. He return to South Africa was triumphant and the young doctor received promotions and accolades. He continued to work at Groote Schuur Hospital, this time as a specialist in cardiothoracic surgery, and was a full-time lecture and Director of Surgical Research at the University of Cape Town. Three years after his return to South Africa, he was appointed Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the teaching hospitals at the University of Cape Town. In 1962,he was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Cape Town. A LIFE IS CHANGED FOREVER In 1967 he led the surgical team that performed the first human-to-human heart transplant.

(The patient, Louis Washansky died soon after.) Professor Chris Barnard became a household name throughout the world and the unknown surgeon became an international superstar overnight. In 1969 he got divorced and in 1970 married Barbara Zoellner. They had two boys. Barbara was a beautiful woman and the media adored her - her face often adorned the front pages of fashion magazines. His years were spent jet-setting around the world, meeting famous people - from princes and kings to American presidents, and even the Pope. He became known as the "filmstar surgeon". His natural good looks helped this image along, as swarms of celebrities fought to be photographed alongside him. People either loved him, or hated him. Those who hated him might have been suffering from a bit of jealousy, but the fact remains that although the good doctor could be most charming at times, at other times he acted like a spoilt prima donna who couldn't get his own way. What is not widely known is that he treated hundreds of patients throughout the world, free of charge. He was promoted to Professor of Surgical Science in the Department of Surgery at the University of Cape Town in 1972.

1982 saw his second marriage come to an end - Barbara, it seemed, had tired of the jetsetting lifestyle. After their divorce, Chris Barnard wrote to the largest national newspaper in South Africa, delcaring his love for her. However, Barbara had had enough and they were never reconciled. In 1983, he retired as Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He spent two years as the Scientist-In-Residence at the Oklahoma Transplantation Insitue at the Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City in the USA. Over the years he has received many awards over the years, one of which is the title Professor Emeritus (1984). He remarried in 1988. This time to Karin Setzkorn, a beautiful model and a lady young enough to be his granddaughter. They had two children from this union, but were sadly divorced in the year 2000. The youthful Karin probably felt as though she would always be known as Chris Barnard's wife and in his latter years, the jetsetting professor was not as eager to attend parties and was content to stay at home on his farm in Beaufort West.

Karin needed to express herself, to become her own person. Professor Barnard is planning to settle in Austria where he plans to spend the rest of his days in peace. ______ 2nd September 2001, while on holiday in Paphos, Cuprus. Dr Christiaan Barnard collapsed by the hotel pool and died of a suspected heart attack. He was 78. Denise Darvall | South African History Online South African History Online Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on People category: World's first successful human heart-transplant donor First name: Date of death: 1967 Denise Darvall achieved renown when on 3 December 1967, she became the donor in the world’s first successful human heart transplant, performed by Professor Chris Barnard and his team at Groote Schuur hospital. Earlier that day she was very seriously injured in a car accident in Observatory, Cape Town. Denise’s mother, who was also involved, died immediately. Denise had multiple injuries including a skull fracture and extensive head injuries. She could not be kept alive without mechanical assistance, and was essentially brain dead.

At 9 pm on the day of the accident, the resuscitation team stopped trying to revive Denise. After parental permission was obtained, Denise Darvall’s heart went to the first heart transplant recipient, Louis Washkansky , and her kidneys went to 10 year old Jonathan van Wyk. In apartheid South Africa that gave rise to some controversy, as the boy was Coloured and Denise was White. References: Chris Barnard Performs World's First Heart Transplant | Western Cape Government Home > Documents > Public Information > C > Chris Barnard Performs World's First Heart Transplant Chris Barnard Performs World's First Heart Transplant The World's First Heart Transplant Mr Washkansky Groote Schuur Hospital was placed centre stage in the world's spotlight when Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on the third of December 1967. Sadly, Mr Louis Washkansky (pictured left) only lived for 18 days, succumbing in the end to pneumonia. His new heart beat strongly to the end.

Transplanting Life - the Story of Chris Barnard Chris Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard was born in the town of Beaufort West, on the edge of the great Karoo, the dry and arid interior of South Africa, in 1922. His father was a preacher and there were 4 boys in the family. He did well at school , learned music and played sport, and decided on leaving school to study medicine at the University of Cape Town. The Barnard family was not wealthy but managed to secure a 3 year scholarship. He stayed with his older brother and walked to the University. There was little money to spare and even less time for leisure. Another problem was language, as his mother tongue was Afrikaans, and he had to learn to express himself in English. After 6 years he graduated and did internship and residency at Groote Schuur Hospital and Peninsula Maternity. He then joined a colleague and moved to a small town, Ceres, and married Louwtjie. The seeds of his future career were sown when one of his patients delivered a baby boy with a heart defect which could not be remedied.

The baby died, causing him to think deeply about this and foresee the need for remedial surgery and the replacement of heart valves. Back in Cape Town he studied further for his doctorate in Medicine, but heart surgery pre-occupied him. The heart-lung machine was in its infancy in the USA and considered too dangerous to use in surgical procedures. Chris proceeded with research and more study, working in converted rooms at night at minimal expense. A turning point came when he was offered a chance to work in Minneapolis, USA, under Professor Wagensteen, a great teacher of experimental surgery. The heart lung machine was perfected and this was the gateway to cardiac surgery. The idea of transplanting occurred to Chris. If it was possible with kidneys, why not the heart? After more years of study in USA he returned to SA with a wonderful parting gift from Prof Wagensteen - a heart-lung machine. Groote Schuur Hospital was waiting his return in 1958 to start the first heart unit to perform a cardiac bypass operation. The core of the heart transplant team of the future was formed when the heart lung machine arrived.

Chris was again involved in much experimental work and research, and took courses in immunology in USA where immuno -suppressive agents had been developed. Transplant Prelude Back in SA he prepared for kidney transplants and built up surgical expertise. From the legal aspect there had to be clear rules to remove organs from the human body and criterion of death. He performed the first kidney transplant at Groote Schuur on Mrs Edith Black and everything functioned perfectly. It was hailed as a major surgical event in SA. Professor Val Schrire, who had built up the Cardiac Clinic, was informed by Chris in October 1967:"Everything is ready for a heart transplant. We have the team and we know how to do it." In November Prof Schrire called Chris and told him that there was a suitable patient for a heart transplant. Louis Washkansky was suffering from gross heart failure with a short time to live and was prepared to take the chance. One can say the rest is history. A series of events were set in motion which led to the first human heart transplant, a remarkable feat A young woman, Denise Darvall, had been struck by a car and suffered severe brain damage.

Her father did not hesitate when approached for permission to donate her organs. On 3 December 1967 the team emerged from 9 hours of operating and suddenly international attention was focused on Groote Schuur Hospital. The first heart transplant could not have been achieved without the skill and support of a large team - Cardiologists, Radiologists, Anaesthetists, Technicians, Nurses, Immunologists, Pathologists, and in particular, Prof Val Schrire, head of the Cardiac Clinic. The original theatre where this transplant was performed has been turned into a museum in honour of these pioneers of medicine, and to the first donor and recipient. Professor Christiaan Barnard passed away in Cyprus, Greece on 2 September 2001 from an acute asthma attack. The content on this page was last updated on 15 March 2014 Louis Washkansky | South African History Online South African History Online Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on People category: The world’s first human heart transplant recipient.

First name: Date of death: 1967 Of Lithuanian Jewish extraction, Louis Washkansky came to South Africa aged 9, and became a grocer in Cape Town’s Greenpoint area. Washkansky saw active service in WW2 in East and North Africa and Italy. His wife Ann, he met and married after the war. He was keen on soccer, swimming and weightlifting and lived an active life until his first heart attack. In 1965 a third and very severe heart attack left him suffering from congestive cardiac failure. The effects of this were huge cardiac swelling, irregular heartbeat, extreme shortness of breath, a heart incapable of maintaining normal output so that his body slowly starved of food and oxygen. His death became imminent, and a donor, Denise Darvall was located. The operation itself, performed by Professor Chris Barnard and a team of 30 was a surgical success. Unfortunately, immuno-suppressant drugs aimed at preventing the body’s natural rejection of the ‘foreign’ material of his new heart, compromised his capacity to resist infection. After gaining consciousness and strength post-operatively, he was able to talk and on occasion, to walk.

He then deteriorated however, and later died of pneumonia 18 days after the heart transplant. References: • Joyce, P. (1999). A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography, Cape Town: Francolin, p.280. • Malan, M. (1968). Heart Transplant: The Story Of Barnard and the “Ultimate In Cardiac Surgery”, Johannesburg: Voortrekkerspers.

Question: In 1967, who became the first recipient of a human heart transplant?
Answer: LOUIS WASHKANSKY