Fallbrook
Kim Hughes, the Fallbrook woman who waited more than five months on a donor organ list for a new liver, was listed in critical but stable condition at UCLA Medical Center Friday after transplant surgery.
The complicated, 11 1/2-hour liver transplant concluded about 5 a.m. and seemed to go well, hospital spokesman Mike Byrne said. Ronald W. Busuttil, director of the UCLA liver transplant program, performed the operation that involved removing Hughes’ liver, pancreas and part of her stomach before putting in the new liver.
Hughes, 21, was diagnosed with cancer in 1986. A rare, slow-growing tumor in her pancreas invaded the liver, and in February she was placed on a donor waiting list for a liver.
Surgeons did not replace Hughes’ pancreas, Byrne said. Unless it is replaced later, Hughes will be dependent on medication for the rest of her life.
Doctors are closely monitoring Hughes for signs of rejection and infection, Byrne said. Hughes could be out of the hospital in six weeks.
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