Christiaan Neethling Barnard (November 8, 1922 –
September 2, 2001) was a South
African cardiac surgeon. He is famous for performing the world's first successful
human-to-human heart transplant.
Career
Barnard did his internship and residency at the Groote Schuur Hospital in
Cape Town, after which he worked as a general
practitioner in Ceres, a rural town in the Western Cape province. In 1951 , he returned to Cape Town where he worked at the City Hospital as a Senior
Resident Medical Officer, and in the Department of Medicine at the Groote Schuur Hospital as a registrar. During this time he
completed his Masters degree, receiving Master of Medicine (MMed) in 1953 from the
University of Cape Town. In the same year he obtained a doctorate in medicine (MD) from the same university for a dissertation
entitled "The treatment of tuberculous meningitis".
In 1956 , he received a scholarship for a two-year postgraduate training in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
United States. It was during this time that Barnard first became acquainted with
Norman Shumway, who did much of the pioneering research leading to the first human heart
transplant. In 1958 he received a Master of Science in Surgery for a thesis entitled, "The aortic valve - problems in the
fabrication and testing of a prosthetic valve." The same year he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy degree for his dissertation
entitled "The aetiology of congenital intestinal atresia." Barnard described the two years he spent in the USA as "the most
fascinating time in his life."
Upon returning to South Africa in 1958 , Barnard was appointed cardiothoracic surgeon at the Groote Schuur Hospital,
establishing the hospital's first heart unit. He was promoted to full-time lecturer and Director of Surgical Research at the
University of Cape Town. Three years later he was appointed Head of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the teaching
hospitals of the University of Cape Town. He rose to the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the
University of Cape Town in 1962 . Christiaan's younger brother Marius, who also studied medicine, eventually became Christiaan's
right-hand man at the department of Cardiac Surgery. Over time, Christiaan became known as a brilliant surgeon with many
contributions to the treatment of cardiac diseases, such as the Tetralogy of Fallot
and Ebstein's anomaly. He was promoted to Professor of Surgical Science in the
Department of Surgery at the University of Cape Town in 1972 . Among the many awards he has received over the years, he received
the title of Professor Emeritus in 1984.
Heart transplant
Following the first successful kidney transplant in 1953, in the
United States, Barnard performed the first kidney transplant in South Africa in 1959. Christiaan
Barnard experimented for several years with animal heart transplants. More than 50 dogs received transplanted hearts, but
typically died shortly afterward. [1]. With the
availability of new breakthroughs introduced by several pioneers, amongst them Norman Shumway, several surgical teams were in a
position to prepare for a human heart transplant. Barnard had a patient willing to undergo the procedure, but as with other
surgeons, he needed a suitable donor. [2]
The world's first human heart transplant operation was performed on 3 December 1967 in an
operation, assisted by his brother, Marius Barnard, lasting nine hours and using a team
of thirty people. The patient, Louis Washkansky, was 55 year old grocer, suffering from
diabetes and incurable heart disease. [3]. Barnard later wrote, "For a dying man it is not a difficult
decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap
into the water, convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side." The donor heart came from a young woman, Denise Darvall, who had been killed in a December 2, 1967, road
accident while crossing a street in Cape Town. After securing permission from Darvall's father to use her heart, Barnard
performed the transplant. Twenty years later, Dr. Marius Barnard recounted, "Chris stood there for a few moments, watching, then
stood back and said, 'It works.'" [4] Washkansky survived
the operation and lived for eighteen days. However, he succumbed to pneumonia induced by the
immunosuppressive drugs he was taking. Though the first patient with the heart of another
human being survived for only a little more than two weeks, Barnard and mankind had passed a milestone in a new field of
life-extending surgery.
Barnard became an international superstar overnight and was celebrated around the world for his daring accomplishment. Barnard
was quite photogenic and enjoyed the media attention following the operation. Barnard
continued to perform heart transplants. A transplant operation was conducted on 2 January
1968, and the patient, Philip Blaiberg, survived for 19
months. Mrs Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became Barnard's longest surviving patient. She lived for 24 years
after the transplant.([1]).
Barnard performed 10 orthotopic transplants (1967 – 1973). He was
later to be also the first to perform a heterotopic heart transplant, an operation that he himself devised. Forty-nine
consecutive heterotopic heart transplants were performed in Cape Town between 1975 and 1984.
When many surgeons, disillusioned by poor results, gave up cardiac transplantation, he persisted in his efforts until the
advent of the drug Cyclosporin, which helped revive the operation throughout the world. He
was also the first surgeon to attempt xenograft transplantation in a human patient,
in a desperate move to save the life of a young girl he could not wean from the pump after a redo aortic valve replacement. He
was later accused of wrongdoing by her parents.
Public life
After his first successful heart transplant Barnard became known as the "film star surgeon". He was loved by his patients
throughout the world, hundreds of whom were treated free of charge, and hated by many others who were jealous of his instant
success. He was accused by some colleagues in the profession of "stealing " the idea and the opportunity to perform the first
heart transplantation. Often considered a spoiled and arrogant personality, he was also regarded as kind and considerate by
others. Due to his widely publicized love affairs, he became jokingly known as "doctor of hearts", referring to the heart as
emotional symbol rather than in its usual medical context. [citation needed]
Barnard was an outspoken opponent of South Africa's laws of apartheid, and was not afraid to criticize his nation's government,
although he had to temper his remarks to some extent in order to travel abroad. Rather than leaving his homeland, he used his
fame in order to campaign for a change in the law. After Denise Darvall provided the means for the very first heart transplant,
Barnard implanted her kidney into a 10 year old mixed race boy. The donor for the second heart transplant was also of mixed race.
Christian's brother, Dr. Marius Barnard, went into politics, and was elected to the
legislature on an anti-apartheid platform. [5].
Personal life
Barnard's first marriage was to Aletta Louw, a nurse, whom he married in 1948 while practicing medicine in Ceres. The couple had two children, Andre and Deirdre. International fame took a toll on his
personal life, and in 1969 Barnard got a divorce. In 1970 he married the glamorous Barbara
Zoellner, with whom he also had two children, and divorced again in 1982 . Barnard married for a third time in 1988 to
Karin Setzkorn, a beautiful model young enough to be his granddaughter. They also had two children but this last marriage also
led to a divorce in 2000.
Retirement
Barnard retired as Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Cape Town in 1983 after developing rheumatoid arthritis in his hands, which prevented him from operating. He then spent two years as
the Scientist-In-Residence at the Oklahoma Transplantation Institute in the USA and acted as consultant for other
institutions.
He had by this time become very interested in anti-ageing research, and his reputation suffered in 1986 when he promoted
Glycel, an "anti-ageing" skin cream, that was withdrawn by the United States
Food and Drug Administration soon thereafter.[verification needed] He also spent time as a research
advisor to the Clinique la Prairie, in Switzerland, where the controversial "rejuvenation
therapy" was practiced. He later expressed regret for endorsing Glycel.[verification needed]
He divided the remainder of his years between Austria, where he established the Chris Barnard
Foundation, dedicated to helping underprivileged children throughout the world, and his game-farm in Beaufort West, in South Africa.
Christiaan Barnard died in September 2001, whilst on holiday in Paphos, Cyprus. Early reports claimed that he had died of a heart attack,
although an autopsy showed his death to be caused by an acute asthma attack.[6]
Books
Christiaan Barnard wrote two autobiographies. His first book, One Life, was published in 1969 and subsequently sold
copies worldwide. Some of the proceeds were used to set up the Chris Barnard Fund for research into heart disease and heart
transplants in Cape Town. His second autobiography, The Second Life, was published in 1993.
Other than his autobiographies Dr Barnard also wrote several books including:
- The Donor
- Your Healthy Heart
- Night Season
- The Best Medicine
- Arthritis Handbook: How to Live With Arthritis
- Good Life Good Death: A Doctor's Case for Euthanasia and Suicide
- South Africa: Sharp Dissection
- 50 Ways to a Healthy Heart
- Body Machine
See also
External links
References
- ^ "Memories of the heart," Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA),
November 29, 1987, pA-18
- ^ Id.
- ^ "Memories of the heart," Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA),
November 29, 1987, pA-18
- ^ Id.
- ^ "Memories of the heart," Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA),
November 29, 1987, pA-18
- ^ "Autopsy confirms asthma
killed Barnard", Cyprus Mail, Wednesday, September 5, 2001. Retrieved on
2007-03-15.
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