20th Century: Making Major Medical Advances

The 20th century was all about advancing surgery and making it safer for patients. Surgeons were able to expand their practice and knowledge and to treat a wide variety of conditions that weren’t able to be treated before. Let’s look at some of the surgical firsts and discoveries that occurred during this time.  

• 1905: First cornea transplant 
• 1917: First documented plastic surgery to treat burns to an English sailor 
• 1928: Antibiotics are discovered
• 1940: First metal hip replacement 
• 1950: First LASIK procedure performed in Colombia
• 1950: First successful organ (kidney) transplantation. (The patient died several months later due to graft rejection.)
• 1952: First successful heart surgery, during which the heart was stopped and started again 
• 1953: Heart-lung bypass machine used for the first time in cardiac surgery
• 1954: First successful living donor kidney transplantation performed. (The donor was the recipient’s twin.)
• 1966: First pancreas transplant
• 1967: First liver transplant
• 1967: First heart transplant 
• 1975: First surgery using a minimally invasive laparoscope (also called “keyhole” surgery)
• 1978: Birth of the first baby conceived using in-vitro fertilization
• 1982: First Jarvik-7 artificial heart used
• 1984: First pediatric heart transplant (the patient lived 21 days after receiving the heart of a baboon)
• 1985: First documented robotic surgery
• 1999: First successful hand transplant