Louis Washkansky
Encyclopedia
Louis Washkansky was the recipient of the world's first human heart transplant.

Biography

Washkansky was a Lithuanian Jew who migrated with his friends to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 in 1922, aged nine, and became a grocer
Grocer
A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...

 in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

. Washkansky saw active service in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in East
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

 and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

Washkansky was an avid sportsman. He took part in football, swimming, and weightlifting
Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...

. However, late in his life his health declined substantially: he was diabetic
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

, and had an incurable heart disease, causing him to suffer three heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

s. The last of these heart attacks led to congestive heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...

.

In April 1966, Washkansky visited Groote Schuur Hospital
Groote Schuur Hospital
Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa...

 due to his pre-existing illness. He was first seen by Dr. Barry Kaplan, who in July 1966 had asked if Mr Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.- Early life :...

 would be willing to attend Washkansky. Barnard had performed a number of laboratory tests and an in-depth examination on Washkansky and came to the conclusion that nothing could be done to help him. In January 1967, Washkansky was referred to Dr. Mervyn Gotsman
Mervyn Gotsman
Mervyn S. Gotsman is Professor Emeritus of Cardiology at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.Professor Mervyn Samuel Gotsman, M.D. was born in 1935 in the town of Hermanus in South Africa to Benjamin, a physicist, and Ada, a housewife...

, a cardiologist at the Cardiac Clinic in Groote Schuur Hospital due to refractory heart failure. Washkansky underwent cardiac catheterisation, confirming severe heart failure and subsequently was referred to Barnard for possible surgery.

Operation

He received his heart transplant on 3 December 1967, at the Groote Schuur Hospital
Groote Schuur Hospital
Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa...

 in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The nine-hour operation began at 1 a.m. when surgeons removed the heart of 24-year-old Denise Darvall
Denise Darvall
Denise Ann Darvall was the donor in the world’s first successful human heart transplant, performed at Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa, by a team of surgeons led by Christiaan Barnard....

, who had very recently been fatally injured in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...

. The procedure was performed by Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.- Early life :...

.

Outcome

Although Washkansky died of double pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 eighteen days after the transplant because of a weakened immune system, Barnard regarded the surgery as a success because the heart was "not being stimulated by an electrical machine" but completely by Washkansky. As Barnard related in his book, One Life, a decision was made on the fifth postoperative day to bombard Washkansky's system with immunosuppressants to guard against a potential rejection of the new heart. As later heart transplants would reveal, the signs noted at that time were part of a resettling program for the new heart and not necessarily an indication of rejection. Of course, as Washkansky and everyone else understood, the operation had never been done before, was entirely experimental, and they were, in effect, feeling their way in the dark. Today, however, the heart transplant operation is virtually routine.

Louis Washkansky's grandson, Dale Washkansky
Dale Washkansky
Dale Washkansky is an emerging contemporary South African artist. Working primarily in the medium of photography, he graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2006 and his graduate exhibition, Surface Tension, was received well with one review from ARTTHROB stating that his "harshly...

, is a South African artist.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK