Key dates in the history of transplantation

500 BCE

Warriors' hearts

Chinese doctor Pien Ch'iao reputedly swaps the hearts of warriors Gong Hu and Qi Ying.

200 CE

Chinese medicine

Chinese physician Hua-Tuo, the first to use anaesthesia, is said to have replaced diseased organs with healthy ones, the first reference to medical organ transplantation.

300

Cosmos and Damian

Saints Cosmos and Damian reputedly replace the leg of a patient with one cut from a dead Moor - the first account of use of donated material.

c.1200

Foot fault

Saint Anthony of Padua reattaches the foot of a young man who had deliberately mutilated himself, having been told off for kicking his mother.

1667

First blood transfusion

After Harvey's discovery of blood circulation, French physician Jean-Baptiste Denis gives blood from a lamb to a 15-year-old boy suffering from high fevers. Experiments are soon banned as patient deaths mount.

1818

Human-to-human blood transfusion

British obstetrician James Blundell transfuses four ounces of blood from a man to his wife after childbirth. This is the first well-documented case of person-to-person blood transfusion.

1832

Grave robbers

The grisly antics of Burke and Hare and other 'resurrectionists', stealing bodies (or murdering people) to supply cadavers for dissection, lead to the Anatomy Act 1832, covering the disposal of bodies after death and the licensing of teachers in anatomy.

1869

Skin grafts

Swiss surgeon Jacques Louis Reverdin is the first to transplant skin from one individual to another.

1881

Lightning strike

First recorded use of a skin graft from a dead person. The patient was burned while leaning against a metal door struck by lightning.

1900

Blood groups discovered

German scientist Karl Landsteiner identifies human blood groups. Matching of blood groups is necessary for successful blood transfusions. Landsteiner was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1930.

1905

First successful cornea transplant

Austrian surgeon Eduard Zirm uses a cornea from an 11-year-old boy to restore the sight of Alois Glogar, a labourer who had been blinded by accidentally burning his eyes with caustic lime.

1909

Animal-to-human kidney transplant

A child suffering from kidney failure is given slices of rabbit kidney by a French surgeon. Despite promising initial signs, the child dies after two weeks. Other animal-to-human transplants are equally unsuccessful.

1936

First human-to-human kidney transplant

Yu Yu Voronoy, a Russian surgeon, performs the first human-to-human kidney transplant. The kidney works poorly for two days and then fails.

1940

Understanding rejection

UK researcher Peter Medawar begins to identify the immunological processes underlying tissue rejection, establishing the new field of transplantation biology. Medawar receives a Nobel Prize for his work.

1954

A successful kidney transplant

David Hume and Joseph E Murray at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston transplant a kidney between 23-year-old identical twins, one of whom is dying from advanced glomerulonephritis. Both twins do well and lead productive lives.

1961

Human Tissue Act passed

A framework is established for the emerging field of transplantation medicine.

1962

First cadaveric kidney transplant

The new immunosuppressive drug azathioprine is used by surgeons in Boston to prevent rejection of a kidney obtained from a dead donor. The patient lives for 21 months.

1963

First successful lung transplant

James Hardy at the University of Mississippi Medical Center carries out the first successful lung transplant. A year later Dr Hardy tries to transplant a chimpanzee heart into a dying man, but it beats for only 90 minutes.

1963

More primate transplants

Surgeons transplant chimpanzee kidneys into 13 people. All die; the longest survival is for nine months. Further attempts at transplantation with primate organs all end in failure.

1966

First successful pancreas transplant

A patient at the University of Minnesota Medical Center with uncontrolled diabetes and kidney failure receives a pancreas transplant from a dead donor.

1967

First successful liver transplant

The first successful liver transplant is carried out by Thomas Starzl of the University of Colorado Hospital. The liver functions for 13 months.

1967

First successful human heart transplant

Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa transplants the heart of Denise Darvall, a 23-year-old woman who died in a traffic accident, into the chest of 54-year old Louis Washkansky. Washkansky died of pneumonia 18 days later because of his suppressed immune system.

1968

First US organ donor programmes established

The first organisations designed to help coordinate organ donations - now called organ procurement organisations (OPOs) - are established in Boston and Los Angeles.

1968

First multiple organ donor

A 20-year-old Texas woman, who has just been shot in the head and is brain dead, becomes the world's first quadruple organ donor.

1968

UK transplants

The first heart transplant and liver transplant are carried out in the UK.

1971

Donor cards debut

Kidney donor cards are introduced in the UK. They later become organ donor cards as transplantation of more parts of the body becomes possible.

1979

UK transplant programmes

UK heart transplant programme begins; a liver transplant programme starts four years later.

1981

First successful heart-lung transplant

Norman Shumway and Bruce Reitz carry out the first successful heart-lung transplant at Stanford University Medical Center.

1982

First long-term artificial heart implanted

A Jarvik-7 artificial heart is implanted into a patient named Barney Clark by William DeVries of the University of Utah. The patient survives for 112 days.

1983

Cyclosporine approved by FDA

Cyclosporine, a compound made by soil-living fungi, is licensed by the US Food and Drug and Administration (FDA). Discovered in the 1970s, cyclosporine has transformed an experimental technique into a routine procedure.

1984

Baby Fae receives a baboon heart

Surgeons at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California transplant the heart from a seven-month old baboon into a baby girl know only as Baby Fae. She lives for 20 days, before dying of kidney failure. Her body had not rejected the heart.

1984

A new Anatomy Act

The 1832 Anatomy Act is updated. It is replaced by the Human Tissue Act of 2004.

1988

First successful small bowel transplants

First successful small intestine transplants are performed, with tissues from living and dead donors.

1989

First successful living-donor liver transplant

A mother donates part of her liver to her child, the first successful living-donor transplant of a liver. Unlike other organs, the liver has some powers of regenerations.

1989

The Human Organ Transplants Act passed

The Act makes any commercial dealings in human organs for transplant a criminal offence.

1994

FK506 approved

Another fungal product, FK506 (tacrolimus), is approved by the FDA. FK506 has the same mode of action as cyclosporine but is a more potent immunosuppressant.

1994

Donor register

The NHS Organ Donor Register is established.

1998

Hand transplant

In Lyon, France, Jean-Michel Dubernard and colleagues perform the world's first successful hand transplant on New Zealander Clint Hallam. In 2001, Mr Hallam had the hand removed because he felt 'mentally detached' from it.

2005

Face transplants

The first partial face transplant is carried out in France. A second is carried out in China a year later.

2006

Human Tissue Acts become law

The Human Tissue Act 2004 becomes law, as does the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act, consolidating and updating UK transplant law.

2007

The Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, calls for organ donation to move towards an opt-out system.

2008

Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, asks the Organ Donation Taskforce for a report on presumed consent.