Evolution of Heart Transplantation Surgical Techniques

Organ transplantation has kindled the human imagination since the beginning of time. Prehistorically, transplantation appeared as mythological stories: from creatures with body parts from different species, the heart transplant between two Chinese soldiers by Pien Ch’iao, to the leg transplant by physician Saints Cosmas and Damian. By 19th century, the transplantation concept become possible by extensive contributions from scientists and clinicians whose works had taken generations. Although Alexis Carrel is known as the founding father of experimental organ transplantation, many legendary names had contributed to the experimental works of heart transplantation, including Guthrie, Mann, and Demikhov. The major contribution to experimental heart transplantation before the clinical era were made by a team lead by Richard Lower and Norman Shumway at Stanford University in the early 1960s. They played the vital role in developing experimental and clinical heart transplantation as it is known today. Using Shumway biatrial technique Christiaan Barnard started a new era of clinical heart transplantation, by performing the first in man human-to-human heart transplantation in 1967. The techniques of heart transplant have evolved since the first heart transplant. This chapter will summarize the techniques that have been used in clinical heart transplantation.