History of Heart Transplantation

Patient/Visitor Guide Mission Statement History of Heart Transplantation Highlights Statistics & Outcomes Transplant Team Financial Information Patient Information Referring Physician Information

Christian Bernard, MD, performed the first successful human heart transplant in South Africa in 1967. Many patients received heart transplants over the next 10 years around the world, but unfortunately, few survived.

Survival rates improved in the early 1980s with the discovery of cyclosporine, a medicine that keeps the body from rejecting the new heart. Today, more than 100,000 people have had successful heart transplant surgeries to treat end-stage cardiac disease. Results continue to improve because of better medications for the treatment of infection and rejection. The single biggest limiting factor to transplantation today is the limited supply of donor organs.