title: [Norman Edward Shumway - pioneer of cardiac surgery (February 9, 1923 to February 10, 2006)].
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.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Thorax-, Herz- und Gefässchirurgie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37099 Göttingen. schmitto@med.uni-goettingen.de
authors.forename: Jan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Schmitto
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grossmann
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kubbe
authors.forename: Oliver J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Liakopoulos
authors.forename: Aron F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirzaie
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seipelt
authors.forename: Friedrich A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Schöndube
mesh_terms: D002309:Cardiology / Q000266:history*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States