Science / Medicine : Another Baby Gets Heart at Loma Linda

An infant born in Britain has become the 50th baby younger than seven months to receive a transplanted heart at Loma Linda University Medical Center, hospital officials announced.

Katherine Lehto, whose father is stationed with the U.S. Air Force in England, underwent the three-hour procedure last week. Dr. Steven Gundry, associate professor of surgery and pediatrics, performed the operation on the 21-day-old infant.

Katherine was in critical but stable condition after surgery, normal for such circumstances, said Loma Linda spokesman Dick Schaefer.

Loma Linda reports a 90% success rate for the 50 infants who have received new hearts. The infant heart transplant program was started at the medical center on Nov. 20, 1985. Like most of the infants receiving donor hearts at Loma Linda, Katherine suffered from hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, an underdevelopment of the left side of the heart.