Among the wonders of science, transplants are some of the most incredible feats known to man. In Portugal, this field of medicine is celebrated on the 20th of July.
This date has its origin on the first transplant ever performed in Portugal, a surgery led by Professor Linhares Furtado in 1969. Earlier on, the first heart transplant, by a team led by the South African surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard, had made international headlines.
Meanwhile, today’s medicine has minimally invasive procedures and precise radiology at its disposal, while it develops treatments that greatly extend patients lives.
Nevertheless, even with a radical evolution, there is a global shortage of organs and transplant tissues, which makes alerting for the importance of donations even more vital. Another reason why we must highlight even more this Transplant Day.