baby fae

25 years ago, Stephanie Fae Traphagan, well known as a “Baby Fae” was born on October 14, 1984 and died on November 15, 1984. who became the first infant who received a heart of baboon, this American infant also called , Baby Fae, was suffering from “hypoplactic left heart’s syndrome. She went through xenotransplant procedure and thus became the first infant who received a heart of baboon. The Operation was performed at “Loma Linda University’s Medical Centre” in South California by Leonard L Bailey. The procedure seemed very successful initially but Baby Fae died of a kidney infection 21 days later. The procedure was attracted by a wide range of legal and ethical debate.

This month marks the 25-year anniversary of the first cross-species heart transplant in history. “ Much of what we learned from ‘Baby Fae’s’ operation we were able to apply to the first successful infant-to-infant heart transplant just over a year later in November 1985,” said Dr. Bailey. “’Baby Moses’ is now nearly 24-years-old and doing quite well.”

Since “Baby Fae’s” transplant in 1984, Loma Linda surgeons have done heart transplants on 312 infants under 1-year of age. The medical center’s 500th pediatric heart transplant was performed in July.