Technological Advances in Organ Transplantation

First successful human tissue transplant

Dec 7, 1905

First successful cornea transplant by Eduard Zirm

Nobel Prize for new suturing techniques

Jan 1, 1912

Alexis Carrel wins the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for skilful anastomosis operations, his new suturing techniques, which laid the groundwork for later transplant surgery.

Link between immunosuppressive drugs and organ rejection

Jan 1, 1951

Identifying the immune reactions in 1951 Peter Medawar suggested that immunosuppressive drugs could be used to counter organ rejection.

First successful organ transplant

Dec 23, 1954

Joseph Murray and J. Hartwell Harrison performed the first successful transplant, a kidney transplant between identical twins, in 1954, successful because no immunosuppression was necessary in genetically identical twins.

First successful replantation surgery

Jan 1, 1962

Ronald A. Malt re-attaches a severed limb and restoring (limited) function and feeling.

First successful heart transplant

Dec 3, 1967

Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa succeeds with Louis Washkansky, who survived for eighteen days.

Discovery of cyclosporine

Jan 31, 1970

Discovery of cyclosporine allowed for transplant surgery to utilize a sufficiently powerful immunosuppressive.

First successful heart-lung transplant

Mar 9, 1981

The first successful heart-lung transplant took place at Stanford University Hospital. The head surgeon, Bruce Reitz, credited the patient's recovery to cyclosporine-A.

Invention of Life Cradle

Sep 8, 2004

The “Life Cradle” produced by the company “Organ Transport Systems” can preserve different types of organs for up to 24 hours.