 The world's first human heart transplant operation was performed eight months later, on December 3, 1967.With the assistance of his brother Marius and 30 others, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the nine-hour operation on Louis Washkansky, a 55-year-old man suffering from diabetes and heart disease.With the transplanted heart from Denise Darvall, a victim of a road accident, Washkansky was able to survive the operation and lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia.