About

Dr. Carl Groth

Carl-Gustav Groth was a Swedish surgeon who played a prominent role in the first successful liver transplants done by Dr. Starzl. Dr. Groth arrived at the University of Colorado in January 1966 as a postdoctoral research fellow, armed with a Ph. D. in rheology (the study of the flow of matter) and an interest in the transplantation field. Though he originally came to Colorado to learn to perform kidney transplantation, his knowledge of blood flow provided a much-needed jolt to the liver transplant endeavor that had been in limbo since the first unsuccessful operations in 1963. His contributions, which are fully described in a paper he co-authored with Dr. Starzl in 1969, focused on issues of blood coagulation that had resulted in the fatalities of some of the earlier liver transplant patients.[ref 1] Partially spurred by Dr. Groth’s new insights, as well as other new findings, Dr. Starzl’s team was ready to attempt the operation again in the summer of 1967. This time, the team, was successful. Dr. Groth spent eight months caring for the patients post-op, but returned to Sweden in March of 1968.

Dr. Groth and Dr. Starzl kept up a trans-Atlantic correspondence and close friendship for many years. They discussed patients, technique, and more personal interests. Letters from 1969 and 1970 show Dr. Starzl and Dr. Groth discussing a shared interest in arctic exploration, a passion which would reveal itself in a 1970 speech given by Dr. Starzl exploring the similarities between pioneering polar explorers and modern physicians, and, in 1972, an arctic expedition for Dr. Starzl himself (Doc. 1, Doc. 2, Doc. 3). Dr. Groth returned to Colorado in 1971 for a 16-month stay as an Associate Professor of Surgery to further develop the practice of liver transplantation before leaving again for Sweden (Doc. 4). Upon his return, he became an Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Transplantation at the Karolinska Institute. Dr. Groth continued to focus his efforts on organ transplantation, particularly on the pancreas, and was widely regarded as one of Sweden’s top surgeons, having been appointed the Chairman of the Karolinska Institute’s newly-founded Department of Transplantation Surgery in 1983, where he remained as a Professor Emeritus until his death. (Doc. 5).

Dr. Starzl’s correspondence with Dr. Groth spans from 1965 to 2013, and fills 23 folders. This correspondence reveals a deep friendship and the unswerving respect the two had for one another over nearly five decades of both personal and professional relationships. Despite each man’s  lifetime of remarkable achievements, Dr. Starzl recounts their closeness in The Puzzle People: “[Groth] is famous now and full of honors, but if any moments in his life were more precious than those of the summer and autumn of 1967, I would be surprised.” [ref 2] Dr. Groth passed away in February 2014.

Additional documents (Doc. 6 and Doc. 7) selected from the archives are included at the right, illustrating the relationship, both professional and personal, between the two men.

References 

1. Groth CG, Pechet L, Starzl TE: Coagulation during and after orthotopic transplantation of the human liver. Arch Surg 98:31-34, 1969. 
   http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/3559/
   
2. Thomas E. Starzl, The Puzzle People (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992), 169