⏰ when
When Was the First Successful Kidney Transplant?
medicinehistory
Quick Answer
Dr Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant on 23 December 1954.
The Full Story
On 23 December 1954, surgeon Joseph Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston transplanted a kidney between identical twins Richard and Ronald Herrick. Using a twin donor avoided immune rejection, and the recipient lived eight more years. Murray went on to develop immunosuppressive techniques that made transplants between non-identical individuals possible. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. Today over 100,000 kidney transplants are performed globally each year.
Key Facts
1.Ronald Herrick, the donor, lived until 2010, reaching age 79.
2.Richard Herrick married his recovery nurse after the transplant.
3.Kidney transplants now have a five-year survival rate of about 95 % from living donors.
YouTube Angle
Suggested video title for this topic:
"The Twin Brothers Who Made Medical History — The First Kidney Transplant"