The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center celebrated the 20th anniversary of its liver transplant program, reporting that in the past two decades, its center has performed more than 11,300 organ transplants.

In addition to more than 5,700 liver transplants, surgeons at Pittsburgh have performed 3,500 cadaveric kidney, 1,000 heart and 500 lung transplants, a spokesman said. They also have done a number of small bowel, pancreas and multiple-organ transplants.

The first liver transplant performed by Dr. Thomas Starzl at Pittsburgh on Feb. 26, 1981 ended with the death of the patient three weeks later. The next three transplant patients also died within weeks.

But on May 9, 1981, the team transplanted a liver into a 2-year-old boy who is still alive today -- as are six other children and four adults of the 30 patients who received liver transplants that first year.

"The extraordinary impact of Dr. Starzl's work can be seen in the fact that forms of organ transplantation that were viewed as medical miracles just twenty years ago now are an accepted part of medical practice throughout the country and around the world," said University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg.