A Brief History of Organ Donation
We frequently think of organ donation as a relatively new phenomena however organ donation has actually been around for a very long time. The problem with organ and tissue donation was not the ability to transplant the organs and tissues but rather the problems of infection and rejection. In fact, there is historical evidence of a Chinese physician who transplanted the heart of a man who had a strong spirit and weak will to a man who had a strong will and a weak spirit. The desired result was balancing the two men by exchanging their hearts. Roman Catholic mythology also refers to organ and tissue donation by discussing the replacement of a Roman deacon’s gangrenous leg with the leg of a man who recently died. These accounts may be true or simply myths; however in the second century BC skin transplantation occurred during a rhinoplasty. Whether this procedure succeeded is unknown however only a few centuries later success has been documented relating to the skin autografts of Italian surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi. He also provided insight into rejection as the many allografts he performed consistently failed. Of course, at this time rejection was not understood or even well researched. However it did provide important information for the future.
Eduard Zirm of Austria performed the first human corneal transplant that was successful in 1905. Arteries and veins were also successfully transplanted during the early 1900s. It was during this time frame that rejection was noted, thanks to many transplants on dogs, and this was the insurmountable problem for many years. Work and research continued and many skin transplantations occurred during World War I. By 1962 a successful replantation surgery had been performed by re-attaching a limb that had been severed. Feeling and function was restored, albeit limited, and this was a great success for the medical field.
The first successful organ transplant occurred between identical twins in 1954. Immunosuppression was not necessary because the twins were genetically identical and the kidney transplant was a success. Other deceased donor transplants before had not been successful because of rejection.
Rejection became a very important area of study and immunosuppressive drugs were considered a possibility. In 1970 cyclosporine was discovered and it was believed to be a possible answer to the constant problem of rejection in transplant patients. Many transplants continued and failure resulted with many. However, small successes were enough to keep hope alive that transplants would one day be successful. Organ donation statistics would need to rise significantly if a solution was found and over time this occurred. Today many organ donation services exist and a good percentage of individuals choose to be organ donors. Of course, the risk of rejection still exists but it has been overcome significantly and today organ donation and transplants are an every day occurrence.