Britannica Sources used in this answer

Who performed the first human heart transplant in 1967?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Kidney transplant — transplant British surgeon Andrew Ready flushing a donated kidney during a transplant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, England, 2006.

The first human heart transplant was performed by South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard on December 3, 1967.12

Barnard led a team of 20 surgeons at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, to replace the heart of Louis Washkansky with a heart from a fatally injured accident victim. While the surgery itself was successful, Washkansky died 18 days later due to double pneumonia, which resulted from the drugs used to suppress his immune system to prevent organ rejection. This pioneering procedure marked a significant milestone in transplant surgery, eventually leading to the development of more effective immunosuppressant therapies that have made heart transplantation an accepted and life-saving treatment for end-stage heart disease.132