|
Professor Christiaan Barnard (Christiaan Neethling Barnard) Cape Town, South Africa
Christiaan Barnard was born on the 8th November 1922 in Beaufort-West. His father was a protestant minister.
On the 3rd December 1967, he performed the first heart transplant in Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital. The first heart transplant patient was Louis Washkansky. He was 55 years old at the time.
The operation lasted about 5 hours and, he was aided by 31 Assistants.
Louis Washkansky’s heart was weak and Barnard transplanted this heart with that of Denise Ann Darvall who had died at the age of 25 years.
This first heart transplant in the world made Barnard and South Africa world famous. Unfortunately, Louis Washkansky died on the 21st December 1967, exactly 18 days later due to a lung infection, because his body did not want to accept the foreign heart. This reaction resulted in the lung infection and thus Washkansky’s death.
On the 2nd January 1968, Christiaan Barnard operated on Philip Bleiberg, who lived for 19 months with the transplanted heart.
Thereafter, the operation team from Cape Town performed 110 further heart transplants worldwide. More than 64 operation teams from 22 countries were involved in these transplants.
Christiaan Barnard studied medicine at the University of Cape Town, and continued working in Cape Town after completing his studies. He then went to The United States to study at the University of Minnesota. There he obtained his training as a surgeon and conducted heart operations in the United States.
In 1958 Barnard returned to South Africa and established a medical practice in Cape Town.
Shortly thereafter he became assistant doctor to surgeons. Later he became Director of the "Medical School" at the University of Cape Town. At the age of 40, Barnard became Professor of thoracic surgery. He conducted thousands of heart operations and eventually performed the world’s first heart transplant on the 3rd December 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
Christiaan Barnard tested his operation techniques on animals and this brought him much experience with the use of medicines on isolated hearts and this research also afforded him experience in special techniques for stitching of vascular membranes. Vladimir Demichow from Moscow, who also had success with operations on animals, co-operated with Barnard.
Christiaan Barnard's operation techniques improved greatly and together with his experienced operation team, he conducted more than 420 heart transplants.
His techniques were recognised world-wide and were applied in more than
40.000 heart operations. Many lives were saved in this way.
In 1983 Christiaan Barnard had to give up his career as heart surgeon, because he suffered from arthritis. He used his time to establish the "Christiaan-Barnard-Foundation", in which he supported children with heart problems. Later he became director of a hospital on the greek island "Kos".
He studied and researched the aging process of humans at the University of Oklahoma.
Christiaan Barnard knew how to live life to the fullest. In his words: "I love people, I love women, and the joy of living. I enjoy going to parties" In his book "50 ways to a healthy heart" he explains that laughing or good sex is very important for a healthy heart. He even boasts about the many women in his life.
One can only really understand his words when one lives in Cape Town: all Capetonians enjoy parties and life. His explanations are often misunderstood, because he was definitely not a party animal: he had too much work and responsibility.
He died on 2nd September at the age of 78 due to an asthmatic attack, while he was on holiday in Cypress. He lived on a game farm in South Africa, and also owned a beautiful apartment near Table Mountain, which he hardly used. He was married three times and had a total of six children.
Cape Town – Groote Schuur Hospital
Please visit:
| 
