Norman Edward Shumway - Pionier der Herzchirurgie (9. Februar 1923 bis 10. Februar 2006)

Abstract

Am 10. Februar 2006 verstarb der amerikanische Herzchirurg Norman Edward Shumway 1 Tag nach seinem 83. Geburtstag in Palo Alto, Kalifornien, USA, an den Folgen eines Lungenkrebsleidens.

Norman E. Shumway, Pionier der Herzchirurgie, trug maßgeblich dazu bei, Herztransplantationen von Mensch zu Mensch zu ermöglichen. Bereits Anfang der 60er Jahre führte er bahnbrechende experimentelle Arbeiten zur Entwicklung einer Transplantationstechnik an Hunden durch, die er in Zusammenarbeit mit seinem Team, allen voran mit dem Kollegen Richard R. Lower, in den folgenden Jahren Schritt für Schritt kontinuierlich weiterentwickelte. Nach diesen umfangreichen tierexperimentellen Vorarbeiten stand er im Jahre 1967 mit seinem herzchirurgischen Team der Stanford University an der Schwelle, die weltweit erste Herztransplantation von Mensch zu Mensch durchzuführen, allerdings kamen ihm der Südafrikaner Christiaan Neethling Barnard sowie sein New Yorker Kollege Adrian Kantrowitz zuvor. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Alternate abstract:

After a fulfilled life, Norman E. Shumway, the great pioneer of cardiac transplantation, died of lung cancer 1 day after his 83rd birthday in Palo Alto, California, USA.

Already at the beginning of the 1960s, he and his colleague Richard R. Lower did revolutionary experimental work on developing and establishing the technique of orthotopic cardiac transplantation in dogs. Several studies on cardiac transplantation were carried out in his department and a few years later, Shumway and his team were on their way to perform the worldwide first human-to-human cardiac transplantation. On December 3, 1967, Christiaan Neethling Barnard, a cardiac surgeon from South Africa, forestalled Shumway and performed this operation in Cape Town, South Africa. This event initiated a global boom of cardiac transplantations in the following years." Many heart centers started their own cardiac transplant programs but high mortality rates led again to stagnancy of transplant activities. Shumway remained stable in believing in good results of cardiac transplantation and continued his program steadily. At the beginning of the 1970s, he and his group were responsible for most cardiac transplantations worldwide. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]