First human heart transplant - History.com This Day in History - 12/3/1967 - 0 views
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On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Lewis Washkansky receives the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart disease, received the transplant from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman who was fatally injured in a car accident. Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who trained at the University of Cape Town and in the United States, performed the revolutionary medical operation. The technique Barnard employed had been initially developed by a group of American researchers in the 1950s.
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18 days later he died from double pneumonia. Despite the setback, Washkansky's new heart had functioned normally until his death.
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First heart transplant in South Africa preformed by an American, Surgeon Christian Barnard.
