Pioneering surgeon Sir Roy Calne who carried out Europe’s first liver transplant dies
Healthcare Jan 9, 2024 at 12:35
Sir Roy’s career achievements were commemorated in 2021, when the transplant unit at Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital was named after him.
Professor Sir Roy Calne, a pioneering surgeon who led Europe’s first liver transplant operation in 1968, has died at the age of 93.
Sir Roy died in Cambridge late on Saturday evening, his family said.
In 1978, he became the first doctor to use an immunosuppressant, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection.
Immunosuppressants remain an important part of life for modern transplant patients, who take the drugs for the rest of their lives to ensure donated organs are not rejected.
