⏰ when
When Was the First Heart Transplant Performed?
medicinescience
Quick Answer
Dr Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on 3 December 1967.
The Full Story
On 3 December 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, surgeon Christiaan Barnard transplanted the heart of a young woman killed in a car accident into 54-year-old Louis Washkansky. Washkansky survived 18 days before dying of pneumonia. Barnard's second transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, lived 19 months. Today about 6,000 heart transplants are performed worldwide each year, with modern survival rates exceeding 85 % at one year.
Key Facts
1.The operation lasted about nine hours.
2.Barnard was trained partly by American surgeon Norman Shumway, a pioneer in transplant research.
3.The longest-surviving heart transplant recipient lived over 33 years post-surgery.
YouTube Angle
Suggested video title for this topic:
"The Daring Surgery — The World's First Heart Transplant"