Conquering the First Hurdles in Cardiac Transplantation- In the Footprints of Giants

It was the dream of many cardiac surgeons in the mid 20th century to transplant a healthy heart into a patient dying of end-stage heart disease, but it was in the research laboratories of Dr. Norman Shumway in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University that he and his research fellow, Dr. Richard Lower perfected the surgical procedure and, importantly, demonstrated normal physiological function by the resulting denervated heart which could support normal activity in a canine model. The surgical procedure that they used consisted of a midatrial excision of both left and right atria and excision of the great vessels just above their semilunar valves done on both the donor and recipient hearts.

Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - October 20, 2017 Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: Michael L. Hess, Sharon Hunt Source Type: research