PHENOMENON OF DEMIKHOV. Heart transplantation in experiment and clinical cases in the USSR and abroad (1968–1972). The Second in the USSR heart transplantation in a Clinic (Solovyev G.M., June 10, 1971)

The article presents materials of Soviet and foreign medical literature of 1968–1972 devoted to heart transplantation in experiment and clinical practice. It is shown that in the USSR after unsuccessful heart transplantation performed by A.A. Vishnevsky on November 4, 1968, experimental studies on isolated heart preservation in order to preserve its viability were conducted; models of orthotopic and heterotopic heart transplantation on large and small animals were created; morphological, physiological, biochemical and immunological changes in the transplanted heart were studied. The second heart transplantation in this country was performed by G.M. Solovyev on June 10, 1971, but it was also unsuccessful. It’s remarkable that the 20-year experience of V.P. Demikhov in experimental heart transplantation was used only partially: a number of surgeons applied the cardiopulmonary complex isolated according to V.P. Demikhov's technique for biological heart preservation in experimental animals. At the same time after the successful heart transplantation performed by C. Barnard on December 3, 1967, the world boom of clinical transplantation began. In 1969, 101 such operations were performed. For example, D. Cooley performed them on 21 patients and on another one performed two surgeries. There were observations that patients operated on in 1968 lived 800–900 days or more. The best results were shown by R. Lower, M. DeBakey and N. Shumway. However, the vast majority of heart transplants resulted in lethal outcomes in the immediate or distant postoperative period. This led to the fact that the euphoria of successful transplants gradually began to diminish: in 1969 only 47 operations were performed, and in 1970–1971 only 17 surgeries per year.