On 7th September 1896, the first successful heart surgery was conducted by Ludwig Rehn. The German surgeon repaired a stab wound on Wilhelm Justus, a 22-year old gardner.
FYI, the world’s first heart transplant was carried out in South-Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnard at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The patient, 54-year old grocer Louis Washkansky, received the heart of a young 25-year old Denise Darvall who had died a day before in a fatal accident. Washkansky died just 18 days later but that was because of pneumonia which had made its onset due to the immunosuppressant drugs he had been taking.
