Heart Transplantation
In 1967, South African surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard transplanted a heart from one person into the body of another. The patient survived for 18 days. In the almost four decades since then, the procedure has changed from an experimental operation to an established treatment for advanced heart disease.

Patients who need heart transplants are suffering from heart failure as a result of advanced heart disease. Conventional heart surgery and standard medical therapy are no longer helpful and survival without a transplant may be one or two years. Transplantation is performed for many heart conditions, but the two most common heart diseases leading to transplantation are coronary artery disease (narrowing or hardening of the coronary arteries) and cardiomyopathy (weakening of the heart muscle).


Liver Transplantation
The first successful liver transplant was performed by Dr. Thomas Starzl at the University of Colorado, Denver in 1967. As with the heart, liver transplantation has moved from the experimental into the main stream of acceptable treatment.

Although the liver, the body’s largest organ, has a remarkable power to regenerate itself, there are certain illnesses that can cause permanent and irreversible damage to the liver. When the liver is not functioning properly, patients may experience jaundice (a yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes), uncontrolled bleeding, a decreased level of consciousness (patients may be very drowsy, irritable, and occasionally go into a coma), malnutrition, and ascites (a collection of fluid in the belly). There are many causes of liver disease, but some of the more common ones include: primary biliary cirrhosis, chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis, hepatitis C, hepatitis B, sclerosing cholangitis, alcoholic liver disease, inherited diseases such as glycogen storage disease, Wilson's disease, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or hemochromatosis and biliary atresia.

Canada ’s longest-surviving liver recipient was transplanted in 1982 and continues to enjoy a full and healthy life.


Kidney Transplantation
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a stage of kidney impairment that is irreversible, cannot be controlled by conservative management alone, and requires dialysis or kidney transplantation to maintain life.

There are two types of kidney failure: acute and chronic. Acute kidney failure is a temporary decline in kidney function that can most often be corrected. Chronic kidney failure, on the other hand, is a permanent condition, meaning that once it occurs, the kidneys cannot be made to function again.

Chronic kidney failure may be the result of heredity, as with polycystic kidney disease, or may be caused by prolonged medical conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Persons with chronic renal failure are referred to as having end-stage renal disease. The term indicates that the patient must rely on some type of medical treatment to help replace the loss of kidney function.