Transplant pioneer dies of Lung Cancer

[Donna G]

Heart Transplant Pioneer Shumway Dies

By PAUL ELIAS

Associated Press Writer

1:14 AM PST, February 11, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-eight years ago, Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first successful heart transplant in the United States on a 56-year-old man. Although that patient died a short time later, in the years to come, the operation became the reason that thousands more were able to live.

Shumway, 83, died at his home in Palo Alto Friday of lung cancer, Stanford University spokeswoman Ruthann Richter said.

"He was a miracle worker," said Susan Craze, who lost three children to heart disease before Shumway's team was able to save her other two in the mid-1980s. "We wouldn't have any children if it weren't for Dr. Shumway."

Shumway may be best known for continuing with transplant research as many others gave up. During the 1970s, when most recipients died soon after their operations because of rejection or infection, many surgeons became discouraged. But Shumway stuck with it and built a large transplant research team at Stanford that found ways to overcome rejection problems.

The operation other surgeons once doubted is performed frequently today. In 2004, there were 2,016 heart transplants performed in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.

Shumway developed tests that enabled the use of smaller doses of dangerous rejection drugs and was one of the first transplant surgeons to begin using the safer rejection drug cyclosporine. Ultimately, he dramatically improved survival rates for transplant recipients.

Elizabeth Craze is one of them. She was 2 in 1984 when she became the youngest patient to survive the procedure. Now 24, she has led a normal life and played high school volleyball.

"I never felt held back," she said.

Shumway's first heart transplant patient, Mike Kasperak, 56, died 14 days after the 1968 operation and never left the hospital. Now, it's common for patients to live for decades.

During the early 1960s, Shumway developed a heart transplant technique on dogs that was used by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who transplanted the first human heart in December 1967.

In 1981, Shumway and Dr. Bruce Reitz completed the first successful heart and lung transplant in the same patient at the same time.

Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Shumway served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. He also served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953.

He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University in 1949 and doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1956. He arrived at Stanford in 1958 as a surgery instructor and remained at the university for the rest of his career.

His daughter, Dr. Sara Shumway, followed him into the field of transplant surgery and teamed up with him to edit a textbook on transplantation.

During his career, Shumway was awarded numerous honorary degrees and research honors, including the American Medical Association Scientific Achievement Award in 1987.

Sen. Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader and a heart transplant surgeon, studied under Shumway at Stanford and remembered his mentor as an "inspirational leader and guiding spirit who made heart transplants a reality.

"When all those around him said it could never happen, his vision, his determination, his unrelenting commitment and pioneer spirit saved thousands of lives," Frist said in a statement. "He was not only a great surgeon, but a great teacher as well, and I was fortunate to study under him."

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On the Net:

http://www.shumwayfoundation.org/home.htm

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