Christiaan Barnard

Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a pioneering South African cardiac surgeon. He is most famous for performing the world's first human-to-human heart transplant. This medical milestone changed how doctors approach life-threatening heart conditions.

Throughout his career, Barnard focused on understanding the mechanics of the human body. He moved from studying intestinal issues to mastering complex heart surgeries. His work helped bridge the gap between experimental science and real medical treatment.

Barnard's early medical success involved a condition called intestinal atresia. This is a life-threatening obstruction where a baby's intestines do not receive enough blood. Barnard suspected that inadequate blood flow to the fetus caused this defect. To test this, he spent nine months making forty-three attempts to reproduce the condition in puppy fetuses. He eventually succeeded by tying off the blood supply to the intestines. He discovered that removing the damaged section, usually 15 to 20 centimeters long, could save lives. This technique was used by Jannie Louw and eventually adopted by surgeons in Britain and the United States.

To prepare for heart surgery, Barnard traveled to the United States in 1955. He studied at the University of Minnesota under Owen Harding Wangensteen. While there, he moved from gastrointestinal work to the service of Walt Lillehei. Lillehei was a pioneer in open-heart surgery. Barnard learned about the heart-lung machine, which supports a patient during surgery. He also encountered new ideas, like running blood backward through veins to operate on the aortic valve. He met other future experts, such as Norman Shumway, during this time. Barnard described these two years as the most fascinating period of his life.

In 1967, Barnard achieved his greatest medical feat. On December 3, he performed the first human-to-human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital. He transplanted the heart of an accident victim, Denise Darvall, into a 54-year-old man named Louis Washkansky. The surgery was a technical success, and Washkansky regained consciousness and spoke with his wife. However, he died 18 days later from pneumonia. The drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting the new heart had suppressed his immune system. Later, in 1968, his second transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, lived for a year and a half.

Barnard's journey to this moment included significant experimental work. He performed forty-eight experimental heart transplants on dogs. While this was a large number, it was less than other surgeons like Adrian Kantrowitz or Norman Shumway. Unlike those surgeons, Barnard did not have any dogs survive longer than ten days. He also looked to other global experts for inspiration. In 1960, he traveled to Moscow to meet Vladimir Demikhov. Barnard credited Demikhov as a father of heart and lung transplantation.

Success in the operating room required highly skilled assistants. At Groote Schuur Hospital, Barnard worked with Hamilton Naki. Naki began as a gardener and cleaner during the Apartheid era. Through informal teaching, he became a principal lab technician. He assisted with the organ transplant program and taught hundreds of surgeons. Barnard praised Naki's technical skills, stating he was a better craftsman at stitching than Barnard himself. Although myths incorrectly claim Naki was present during the Washkansky transplant, his role in the laboratory was vital.

Barnard's career ended due to physical challenges. He retired from his role as head of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 1983. This was because rheumatoid arthritis in his hands made surgery impossible. He later became interested in anti-aging research. In 1986, he promoted a skin cream called Glycel, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later withdrew its approval. Before his death in 2001 at age 78, he established the Christiaan Barnard Foundation. This foundation works to help underprivileged children around the world.