Cardiac surgeon: the first heart transplant in Poland opened a new chapter in medicine

The first successful heart transplant opened a new chapter in the history of Polish medicine. It went from being an experimental procedure to a routine procedure in every advanced center, Professor Piotr Przybyłowski, director of the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on the 40th anniversary of the first operation.

Exactly 40 years ago, the first heart transplant in Poland was performed at the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze. Today, the center's director, Professor Przybyłowski, remembers that breakthrough as not only a medical but also a historic event.

"This was the time just after martial law – there was practically nothing. Suddenly, a heart transplant was performed. It was an innovative method, after many failed attempts in the 1960s and 1970s, when there was practically a moratorium on transplants worldwide due to the lack of effective immunosuppressive drugs," Professor Przybyłowski told PAP.

According to him, the introduction of cyclosporine, a chemical used to prevent transplant rejection, in the 1980s revolutionized heart transplantation, increasing both the number of procedures and the life expectancy of patients.

"My entire professional life has been spent in a period where heart transplantation ceased to be a rare procedure and became a routine procedure, available at any advanced cardiac surgery center. Today, survival rates exceeding 20 years are not uncommon," he emphasized.

Relics of that history have been preserved in Zabrze: the surgical protocol from the first procedure, several photographs. And, above all, the people who participated in the operation.

- For many of them, it is still a very vivid memory - added the director.

Prof. Przybyłowski noted that the development of heart transplantology over the last four decades has been enormous.

"Surgical technique hasn't really changed. However, the patient population, the availability of new medications, mechanical circulatory support, and completely standardized pre- and postoperative care have changed," he explained.

The Silesian Center for Heart Diseases performs 50 transplants annually, including a dozen in children. The youngest patient received a heart at seven weeks of age. The oldest patient was over 70 years old.

"A heart transplant requires extensive preparation—from diagnosis, through stabilizing the patient in cardiogenic shock, to rehabilitation. Today, we are able to save children with congenital heart defects, something that would have been unthinkable just 40 years ago," explained Professor Przybyłowski.

International cooperation also plays a significant role. Organs intended for transplantation are sometimes brought to Zabrze from the Czech Republic. To date, this collaboration has resulted in four heart transplants.

"We strive to ensure that each organ is as well matched as possible—in terms of size and biology. This is logistically challenging because there are critical times of ischemia, but cross-border exchange allows us to save more patients," the director emphasized.

At the same time, Zabrze is developing a multi-organ transplant program, including heart, liver, and lung transplants.

- These are huge, complex procedures requiring two teams and advanced anesthetic care, but they give patients a chance at life that was previously unavailable - he added.

The Director also pointed out the challenges of modern transplantology: the limited number of donors, the logistics of organ transport, and in the future – multi-organ transplants, experiments with organs from genetically modified animals and the development of strategies to limit the toxicity of immunosuppressive drugs.

Prof. Przybyłowski also emphasized that public awareness of organ donation is growing in Poland, although education is still needed, including in schools.

November 5th marks the 40th anniversary of the first successful heart transplant in Poland, performed by Zbigniew Religa and his team at the then-Voivodeship Cardiology Center in Zabrze. Although the transplant itself was successful, the 62-year-old patient survived for another eight days.

The team, founded in Zabrze by Zbigniew Religa (1938-2009), included cardiac surgeons Marian Zembala (1950-2022) and Andrzej Bochenek.

In 1987, just after completing one of his heart transplant surgeries, Religa was immortalized in a famous photograph taken for National Geographic by James Stanfield. In the foreground, the distinguished cardiac surgeon is seated, and in the background, his assistant (currently Professor Romuald Cichoń), exhausted, has fallen asleep in a corner of the room. The photograph was named one of the 100 best photographs in the history of National Geographic magazine. (PAP)

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