Christiaan Barnard and transplant surgery
On December 3, 1967, Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa was put in the world's spotlight when Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant. His patient, Louis Washkansky, only lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia, though his new heart beat strongly to the end.
Other heart transplants followed, but one of the major problems of these early operations was the risk of rejection of the transplant. However, this was overcome by the development of drugs such as cyclosporine which help the body accept the replacement organ.
Barnard had amazed the world by carrying out the first heart transplant, but it was by no means the only example of transplant surgery in the last 100 years or so.
| Year/Decade | Key event |
| 1905 | The first cornea transplant |
| 1940s | During World War II, plastic surgery was first used to rebuild the faces of badly burnt airmen |
| 1952 | First kidney transplant |
| 1961 | The first pacemakers were placed in the heart (to maintain a regular heartbeat) |
| 1962 | Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital re-attached the arm of a 12-year-old boy |
| 1963 | The first liver transplant |
| 1967 | The first heart transplant |
| 1972 | Hip replacements were developed |
| 1980s | Bone marrow transplants were developed |
| 1982 | The first heart and lung transplant |
| Year/Decade | 1905 |
|---|---|
| Key event | The first cornea transplant |
| Year/Decade | 1940s |
|---|---|
| Key event | During World War II, plastic surgery was first used to rebuild the faces of badly burnt airmen |
| Year/Decade | 1952 |
|---|---|
| Key event | First kidney transplant |
| Year/Decade | 1961 |
|---|---|
| Key event | The first pacemakers were placed in the heart (to maintain a regular heartbeat) |
| Year/Decade | 1962 |
|---|---|
| Key event | Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital re-attached the arm of a 12-year-old boy |
| Year/Decade | 1963 |
|---|---|
| Key event | The first liver transplant |
| Year/Decade | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Key event | The first heart transplant |
| Year/Decade | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Key event | Hip replacements were developed |
| Year/Decade | 1980s |
|---|---|
| Key event | Bone marrow transplants were developed |
| Year/Decade | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Key event | The first heart and lung transplant |
Transplants today
In 2005, doctors in France carried out a partial face transplant (including nose and mouth) and some surgeons are now considering the possibility of transplanting a head. Today, transplants of all sorts are commonplace. Up to 200 heart transplants are carried out in the UK each year. In fact, one of the main issues today is the lack of donors. In 2015, Wales became the first nation in the UK to introduce a new donation law. Adults are now regarded as having given their consent to organ donation unless they have opted out.
World Transplant Games Federation
The history of the World Transplant Games Federation can be seen on their website. This extract is evidence of the success of transplant surgery across the world.
The first competitive sporting event for transplant recipients took place in Portsmouth, England in 1978 with around 99 competitors from the UK, France, Germany, Greece and the USA. Today we hold the Summer World Transplant Games every two years and the Winter Games in the intervening years. In 1987 the World Transplant Games Federation was officially formed and now has nearly 70 member countries worldwide.