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Vital Signs
Facts & Figures - Organ recital
A paean to the history of organ transplantation
Prelude
16th century
An Italian surgeon successfully transplants skin flaps from patients' own arms to reconstruct their noses
17th century
A Dutch surgeon performs the first successful bone graft, transplanting pieces of a dog's skull to repair a human cranium
Intermezzo
1905
An Austrian surgeon performs the first successful cornea transplant
1954
A Boston surgeon performs the first successful kidney transplant
1968
Congress passes the U.S. Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
Coda
1992
Dr. Horace Henriques performs Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center's first successful kidney transplant
3-5 days
Usual hospital stay for a DHMC kidney transplant patient today
82%
Average three-year graft survival for U.S. kidney transplantations
93.5%
Average three-year graft survival for DHMC kidney transplantations
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