The father of the liver transplant industry died

Dr. Thomas Starzl, a pioneer in the field of liver transplantation, died at the age of 90.

On behalf of the family, the University of Pittsburgh confirmed that Dr. Starzl passed away last Saturday at his home. As the first person to perform liver transplant in the world in 1963, the physician saved thousands of patients' lives and was named father of the liver transplant industry. He also pioneered a kidney transplant from a corpse and then completed this technique by using donated organs from twin siblings and then patient relatives.

Dr. Starzl in the surgery room at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1989. (Photo: AP).

According to TIME, Dr. Starzl was born on March 11, 1926 in Iowa, where his mother worked as a nurse and her father was a science fiction writer and newspaper publisher.

The idea of ​​a liver transplant came to Dr. Starzl for a patient surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He found that surgery corrected blood flow around the liver to help improve patients' diabetes. In 1963, Dr. Starzl conducted the world's first liver transplant at the University of Colorado Hospital but failed. 4 years later he tried again and succeeded.

In 1981, Dr. Starzl worked at the University of Pittsburgh as a professor of surgery, beginning research on anti-transplant rejection drugs. In 1991, he took the position of director of transplant services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and later became the Pittsburgh Transplant Institute.

Revealed in the autobiography Mysterious Humanity: A memoir of an implant doctor, Dr. Starzl admits he hates surgery and always faces fear before every operation. "My whole life is always longing for freedom , " he said.

September 1990, at age 65, Dr. Starzl decided to leave the scalpel, partly because of health problems. At the same time, Stormie Jones, a 14-year-old female patient was co-administered by Dr. Starzl and her heart and lungs. Her death had a strong impact on the physician."It is true that transplant surgery saves patients but patients also save our lives and show us what they have or tried to make sense , " Dr. Starzl said.