Bruno Reichart

Bruno Reichart (born 18 January 1943) is a retired German cardiothoracic surgeon who performed Germany's first successful heart transplant in 1981 and its first combined heart–lung transplant in 1983.

Professor

Bruno Reichart
Born (1943-01-18) 18 January 1943
Education
OccupationCardiothoracic surgeon
Known forPerformed Germany's

In 1984, he succeeded Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town and was appointed president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) from 1988 to 1990. He returned to Munich in 1990 as director of the Cardiac Surgery Clinic at the Klinikum Großhadern of the University of Munich (LMU).

He has also been active in experimental research in xenotransplantation and from 2011 became a spokesman for funded research into the transplantation of pig tissue and organs into primates, with a team involving veterinarians, virologists, clinicians, lawyers and ethicists.

Early life and education

Bruno Reichart was born in Vienna in 1943[1] and grew up in Ingolstadt.[2] He studied medicine at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg and Munich University, now called Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)[1] and received his MD in 1968, after which he became a medical assistant at the First Gynecological Clinic of the University of Munich, the Surgical Department of the Municipal Hospital Munich-Harlaching and at the Medical Clinic of the University of Munich.[1]

Early surgical career

From 1971 to 1973, Reichart worked as a surgical assistant under surgeon Rudolf Zenker[1][3] and within a year was appointed visiting cardiac physician in Memphis, Tennessee, where he focused on heart, lung, and vascular surgery.[1]

Upon his return to Munich in 1974, Reichart commenced surgery at the Cardiac Surgery Clinic at the LMU. In 1977 he became its senior physician and a year later he passed his habilitation with the topic "The mechanical support of acute right heart failure",[2] and become a cardiothoracic surgeon in 1978.[1]

Heart transplant 1981

On 19 August 1981, Reichart performed Germany's first successful heart transplant at the LMU.[4] The procedure was previously performed more than 10 years earlier in 1969, when two heart transplants took place in the Cardiac Surgery Clinic at the LMU,[5][6] but they were both unsuccessful,[5][7] with one dying within two days of surgery, from a coronary thrombosis.[4] Reichart's attempt in 1981 involved a 32-year old recipient who had experienced a heart attack a year earlier and was left with severely impaired left ventricular function. During the year until heart transplant, the recipient also experienced a large blood clot in the lung, acute heart failure and a stomach ulcer. The 23 year old donor had been killed in a road traffic accident ten days prior to transplant. Azathioprine, cortisone and Anti-thymocyte globulin were the immunosuppressants used until two rejection episodes resulted in changing therapy to cyclosporine A three weeks after surgery[4] and they were discharged from hospital at Christmas 1981.[8]

Between 1978 and 1982, he held various professorships including the Universities of Boston, Birmingham, Milwaukee, Paris and Stanford.[1]

More than twenty heart transplant procedures followed over the next three years.[9] Under his leadership, intermittently spanning over 40 years at LMU, more than 1,000 heart transplants were performed.[3]

Combined heart-lung transplant 1983

On 13 February 1983,[4] Reichart was the first in Germany to perform a combined heart–lung transplant.[9][10] The recipient was 27 years old and bed-bound with severe pulmonary hypertension and diseased liver and kidneys. The donor, three years younger, had died the previous day from a clot in the brain. Following the combined heart–lung transplant, the recipient died after ten days.[4] Reichart was appointed professor at the LMU in the same year.[1]

Later surgical career
Groote Schuur Hospital

In 1984 he became a cardiac surgeon at the South African Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, succeeding Christiaan Barnard.[1] Here, his research on baboons and green monkeys had been discontinued due to problems with its acceptance from society and the universities.[3]

In 1990, he returned to Munich and was appointed director of the Cardiac Surgery Clinic at the Klinikum Großhadern of the LMU.[1]

Xenotransplantation

In 2011, he became a spokesman for funded research into the transplantation of pig tissue and organs into primates (xenotransplantation,)[3][11] leading a group that develops transgenic pigs.[12]

To prevent hyperacute rejection and coagulation disorders, harmful pig genes are replaced with certain human genes. This German Research Foundation (DFG) funded research, the “Biology of xenogeneic cell, tissue, and organ transplantation – from basic research to clinical application” has involved collaborating with veterinarians, virologists, clinicians, lawyers and ethicists.[3]

At his 75th birthday celebrations in 2018, he anticipated that it would take at least three years before the first human would be implanted with a pig’s heart.[3] His aspiration is to see that "the transplanted tissues and organs will in the future be genetically programmed to also carry an immunosuppressive molecule on all their cells, so that even fewer corresponding drugs are needed - or perhaps none at all".[3]

Awards and honours

Reichart was president of the ISHLT from 1988 to 1990,[1][13] who honoured him with the Pioneer Award for his work in heart surgery in Munich at their 35th annual meeting[9] in 2015.[14] He holds emeritus membership of the society.[14]

Selected publications

Books
  • Crossing the Borders in Heart Surgery: Simple Thoughts, University of Cape Town, 1985, ISBN 9780799209723.

Articles

References
  1. "Bruno Reichart - Biografie WHO'S WHO". www.whoswho.de (in German). Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  2. "BrunoReichart- Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  3. Simon, Susanne (2018). "Wiesieht die Transplantations medizin der Zukunft aus" (PDF). Spitzenforscher Auf Dem Campus (Top researchers at the Campus). Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  4. Reichart, B; Uberfuhr, P; Welz, A; B. M. Kemkes, B. M.; Kreuzer, E.; Klinner, W.; Reble, B.; Funccius, W.; Hammer, C. (1984). "23. New Beginnings with Heart and Heart-Lung Transplantation at the University of Munich". In Felix Unger (ed.). Assisted Circulation 2. W. Ertel H. Reichenspurner D. Peters M. Gokel N. Franke W. Land. Springer-Verlag. p. 334. ISBN 978-3-642-69477-6.
  5. "The history of cardiac surgery | Deutsche Gesellschaft für Thorax-, Herz- und Gefäßchirurgie". www.dgthg.de. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  6. Killy, Walther; Vierhaus, Rudolf (2011). Thibaut - Zycha. De Gruyter. p. 676. ISBN 978-3-598-23290-9.
  7. Bircks, W (2002). "History of cardiac surgery in Germany – in consideration of her relation to the German Cardiac Society". Z Kardiol. 91: 84–8. doi:10.1007/s00392-002-1413-y. PMID 12641020. S2CID 25914396.
  8. Uberfuhr, P.; Reichart, B.; Welz, A.; Kreuzer, E.; Kemkes, B. M.; Klinner, W.; Hammer, C.; Ertel, W.; Reichenspurner, H. (1982-12-01). "[Report on a successful orthotopic cardiac transplantation in Germany]". Klinische Wochenschrift. 60 (23): 1435–1442. doi:10.1007/bf01720990. ISSN 0023-2173. PMID 6759785. S2CID 13033000.
  9. "Nice, Prof. Bruno Reichart awarded with Pioneer Award Nice / South of France, Klinikum Großhadern München". www.klinikum.uni-muenchen.de (in German). Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  10. "Deutsches Primatenzentrum: Xenotransplantation". www.dpz.eu (in German). Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  11. Jox, Ralf J.; Assadi, Galia; Marckmann, Georg (2015). Organ Transplantation in Times of Donor Shortage: Challenges and Solutions. Munich: Springer. p. 220. ISBN 978-3-319-16440-3.
  12. Regalado, Antonio (12 August 2015). "Transgenic Pigs Shatter Transplant Records". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  13. Past Presidents. International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  14. Transplantation, International Society for Heart and Lung (2016-03-15). ISHLT 2016 Final Program: 36th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions. CTI Meeting Technology.
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