On 3rd of December 1967 the first human heart transplant was performed in South Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnard on Louis Washkansky.
Barnard transplanted the heart of accident victim Denise Darvall into the chest of 54-year-old Louis Washkansky, with Washkansky regaining full consciousness and being able to talk easily with his wife, before dying eighteen days later of pneumonia, largely brought on by the anti-rejection drugs that suppressed his immune system.
Dr Barnard died in 2001 at the age of 78 after an asthma attack.
A heart transplant may be considered if you have severe heart failure and medical treatments are not helping.
Conditions that may eventually require a heart transplant include:
- coronary heart disease – a build-up of fatty substances in the arteries supplying the heart, which block or interrupt blood flow to the heart
- cardiomyopathy – where the walls of the heart have become stretched, thickened or stiff
- congenital heart disease – birth defects that affect the normal workings of the heart
If your doctor thinks you might benefit from a heart transplant, you’ll need to have an in-depth assessment to check whether you’re healthy enough to have one before being placed on a waiting list.
Read more about who can have a heart transplant and being on the heart transplant waiting list. – NHS Inform
In the period 2021/22, 179 heart transplants were carried out in the United Kingdom as a whole. The number of heart transplants in the UK has increased by eleven percent from the previous year. The majority of these (137), were carried out in England. A further 25 in Scotland were performed, the second highest in the UK. – Statista
