Keith Castle, at the age of 52, was the recipient of the first successful heart transplant operation to be carried out in the United Kingdom.[1][2] The operation was performed in August 1979 at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire by surgeon Sir Terence English, who would later describe Castle as a "wonderful man," but "not an ideal patient from a medical point of view" on account of Castle's vascular disease of the legs, peptic ulcer, and history of smoking.[3] In the year following the transplant, the British Medical Journal published an article entitled "Function Of The Transplanted Heart" referencing the operation: "How well does the transplanted (and therefore denervated) heart perform? The immediate and practical answer is, well enough, as the activities of patients such as Mr Keith Castle have shown."[4] Castle survived for more than five years after the operation, dying aged 58 in 1985.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Park, Jay J; English, Sir Terence (17 July 2023). "Follow Your Heart: Trials and Tribulations of Sir Terence English and the First Successful Heart Transplant in the United Kingdom". Cureus. doi:10.7759/cureus.42051. PMC 10434719. PMID 37602124.
  2. ^ a b "Papworth marks first 'successful' UK heart transplant". BBC News. 18 August 2019. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  3. ^ Young, Louisa (2007). "1. The human heart: an overview, interview with Sir Terence English". In Peto, James (ed.). The Heart. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-300-12510-8.
  4. ^ "Function Of The Transplanted Heart". The British Medical Journal. 281 (6239): 529. 1980. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 1713464. PMID 7000263.