"Ronald and Richard Herrick (front) with the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital team that performed the first successful organ transplantation: (left to right) Joseph E. Murray, John P. Merrill and J. Hartwell Harrison" (Countway Library).
First Successful Organ Transplant
Breaking the Barrier of Organ Rejection
The Transplant
"It's the best time ever to be a doctor because you can heal and treat conditions that were untreatable even a few years ago."
-Dr. Joseph Murray, Transplant Surgeon
The first successful organ transplant was performed on December 23, 1954, at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. The three doctors in charge of the operation were Joseph E. Murray, John P. Merrill, and J. Hartwell Harrison. In his book, Surgery of the Soul, Dr. Murray recounts: "We began by attaching (anastomosing) the renal artery of the donor kidney to Richard’s external iliac artery at 10:10 A.M. and completed the connection 30 minutes later. Joining the donor renal vein to Richard’s external iliac vein took a bit longer and was completed at 11:15 A.M." (Murray, Surgery of the Soul).
One of the primary contributing factors to the operation's success was the fact that the donor and the recipient were twin brothers, which supported Peter Medawar's discovery about organ compatibility between identical twins.
"There was a collective hush in the operating room as we gently removed the clamps from the vessels newly attached to the donor kidney. As blood flow was restored, Richard’s new kidney began to become engorged and turn pink. The donor kidney had been without blood flow for a total of 1 hour and 22 minutes. There were grins all around" (Murray, Surgery of the Soul).
Joel Babb, The First Successful Kidney Transplantation, 1996. Oil on canvas, 70″× 88″