Philip Blaiberg (24 May 1909 – 17 August 1969) was a South African

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

and the third person to receive a

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

. On 2 January 1968, in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, Dr.

Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8November 19222September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident victim ...

performed the third heart transplant in the world on the 59 year old Blaiberg (Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz performed the world's second heart transplant, on a baby in the US, three days after Dr. Barnard performed the first). Blaiberg survived the operation, and continued with his life for 19 months and 15 days before dying from heart complications on 17 August 1969. The success of Blaiberg's heart transplant furthered the progress made in regard to heart transplantation.

Biography

Blaiberg was born in the small town of Uniondale in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, later the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

. After completing his dentistry studies in London, Blaiberg returned to Cape Town and opened up his dentistry practice. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Blaiberg joined the South African Army Medical Corps and served in the dental unit in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 1954 at the age of 45, Blaiberg suffered his first

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. He subsequently closed his dental practice and retired to Cape Town. In March 1967, Blaiberg's

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

failed, and it appeared that he was dying. The world's first human heart transplant operation was performed eight months later, on 3 December 1967. With the assistance of his brother Marius and 30 others, Dr.

performed the nine-hour operation on

Louis Washkansky Louis Joshua Washkansky (12 April 1912 – 21 December 1967) was a South African man who was the recipient of the world's first human-to-human heart transplant, and the first patient to regain consciousness following the operation. Washkansky l ...

, a 55-year-old man suffering from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

. With the transplanted heart from Denise Darvall, a victim of a

road accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

, Washkansky was able to survive the operation and lived for 18 days before dying of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. On 2 January 1968, Blaiberg became the second person to successfully undergo a heart transplant. Blaiberg received the heart from 24-year-old Clive Haupt, a

coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

man who had collapsed on a Cape Town beach the day before. That the identity of the heart donor had been released led to much heated controversy in South Africa. In the times of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, there was heated debate about the racism that existed in the country. Some even went on to say: Blaiberg had a smooth recovery after the successful heart transplant. Days after his operation, he was in good spirits, and had had no serious complications. The team of doctors led by Barnard were able to treat him for minor problems that occurred, and the doctors reduced his dosage of immunosuppressive drugs. Less than three months after the heart transplant operation, he was able to drive his car. Blaiberg was able to return to his normal lifestyle after the transplant, and as his wife said Philip "was running around like a machine". In June 1968, Blaiberg contracted

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

while undergoing routine tests in South Africa's Groote Schuur Hospital. Emergency treatment kept him alive, but Blaiberg suffered some long-term complications from the transplant. He died of chronic organ rejection on 17 August 1969, aged sixty. Blaiberg's autopsy showed severe and widespread

coronary artery The coronary arteries are the arterial blood vessels of coronary circulation, which transport oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. The heart requires a continuous supply of oxygen to function and survive, much like any other tissue or organ of ...

disease, a precursor to

atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and is driven by eleva ...

. Barnard said "eventually the chronic rejection had damaged the heart to such an extent that it failed." But he added, "I would like to point out to you that I don’t think we should be discouraged and throw up our arms and say that this is now the end, because we have now operated on five patients. And the total days of survival so far of these five patients has been 1,001 days. I think that gives you an average survival of 200 days." He was the only one in first eight heart-transplant patients who survived a remarkable time (19 months). The success of Blaiberg's transplant led to an immediate increase in the number of doctors performing heart transplants globally. By the end of August 1968, 34 heart transplants had been performed, and by December 1968, 100 hearts had been transplanted into 98 patients.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaiberg, Philip 1909 births 1969 deaths People from George Local Municipality South African Jews Heart transplant recipients South African dentists 20th-century dentists

Biography

See also

References