Colombia’s First heart transplant: A Landmark Surgery That Transformed Cardiac Care
WORLD NEWS – COLOMBIA: On December 1, 1985, at a clinic then called Clínica Cardiovascular Santa María, surgeons implanted the country’s first donor heart into 36-year-old construction worker Antonio Yepez. At 11:45 a.m. the newly placed organ began to beat inside a patient who had been hospitalized for years with critical heart disease, marking a decisive technical and human milestone in Colombian medicine.
The operation was carried out by a team of specialists whose work expanded the treatment options available for severe cardiac illness. Physicians credited with the breakthrough include Mario Montoya, Darío Fernández and Alberto Villegas Hernández. Their effort converted a procedure that once seemed out of reach for the nation into a demonstrated therapeutic alternative for patients facing life-threatening heart failure.
In the decades since that inaugural transplant, the clinic has become a national reference in cardiac surgery and transplantation. Reported outcomes include a one-year survival rate of 87% and a five-year survival rate of 72%. Clinicians there say patients’ quality of life has improved dramatically after surgery, with figures cited near the 98–100% range. The center has also completed four ventricular assist device procedures—so-called artificial hearts—and at the time was the only medical center in Antioquia to perform those interventions.
Culminating years of work, the institution has carried out a total of 677 heart transplants to date. The early success and the program’s sustained results are presented as a point of professional pride for Colombia’s cardiology community and as an emblem of how high‑complexity transplantation can offer renewed life and options for patients amid broader social challenges.
