Christiaan Barnard Performs World's First Human Heart Transplant in Cape Town, 1967
On December 3, 1967, at Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital, a groundbreaking surgery took place under the leadership of surgeon Christiaan Barnard. He directed a team of 30 in the first-ever human heart transplant, transferring the heart of Denise Darvall, who had been fatally injured in a car accident on December 2, into Louis Washkansky. Her father, Edward, agreed to the donation. The procedure commenced around 1:00 a.m., with Washkansky's wife, Ann, notified via phone. Darvall's kidneys were donated to ten-year-old Jonathan van Wyk, igniting controversy due to apartheid regulations. Although Washkansky showed initial improvement, he succumbed to pneumonia and septicemia 18 days later. Barnard acknowledged the vital role of Hamilton Naki despite the prevailing racial challenges.
Key facts
- The first human heart transplant was performed on December 3, 1967, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
- Christiaan Barnard led a surgical team of 30 members; the operation began around 1:00 a.m.
- The donor was Denise Darvall, struck by a car on December 2, 1967; her mother Myrtle died at the scene.
- The recipient was Louis Washkansky, who died 18 days after surgery from pneumonia and septicemia.
- Darvall's kidneys were donated to ten-year-old Jonathan van Wyk, a Black boy, causing controversy under apartheid laws.
- Barnard studied at the University of Minnesota on a two-year scholarship and worked with Norman Shumway, Clarence Walton Lillehei, Owen Wangensteen, and Richard Lower.
- In 1960 Barnard met Vladimir Demikhov in the Soviet Union; Demikhov had performed the first thoracic heart transplant in an animal.
- Hamilton Naki, a self-taught Black medical assistant, was denied medical advancement but later became renowned for liver transplant techniques; Barnard said Naki was technically a better surgeon.
Entities
Artists
- Christiaan Barnard
- Norman Shumway
- Clarence Walton Lillehei
- Owen Wangensteen
- Richard Lower
- Vladimir Demikhov
- Hamilton Naki
- Denise Darvall
- Myrtle Darvall
- Edward Darvall
- Louis Washkansky
- Ann Washkansky
- Jonathan van Wyk
Institutions
- Groote Schuur Hospital
- University of Cape Town
- University of Minnesota
- Heart of Cape Town Museum
- South African History Online
- National Library of Israel
- Wikimedia Commons
Locations
- Cape Town
- South Africa
- United States
- Soviet Union
- Eastern Cape
- Minneapolis