Researched
Organ transplantation
Replacing a failing organ with a donor's became routine treatment after the first kidney transplant.
Open in the interactive tree →On 23 December 1954 Joseph Murray in Boston transplanted a kidney between identical twins, avoiding rejection. Immune-suppressing drugs, above all ciclosporin (approved 1983), made transplants between unrelated people work; the first heart transplant followed in 1967 (Christiaan Barnard). The US passed one million cumulative transplants in 2022, but donors are scarce.
Prerequisites
- Hygiene and antisepsis1867
- Blood groups and transfusion1901
- Antibiotics1928
- Kidney dialysis1943Dialysis keeps kidney-failure patients alive while they wait for a donor organ
- Heart-lung machine1953Heart and lung transplants need bypass to stop the organ while it is replaced