UCSD Reports 2 Successful Major-Organ Transplants

A patient who suffered from heart disease and another plagued by an almost always fatal respiratory disease have undergone successful organ transplants at UC San Diego Medical Center.

According to a hospital report released Wednesday, Joe Fefer, 62, of Fallbrook, received a new heart, while Maria La Fornara, 21, a San Diego State University student, underwent a double-lung transplant. The transplants were performed on Monday and both patients were reported Wednesday to be doing fine.

The organs came from separate donors in San Diego. The identities of the donors were not released, and hospital spokeswoman Nancy Stringer said she did not know how they died.

The hospital released no additional information about Fefer, except to say that his was the 12th heart transplant performed at UCSD Medical Center in the past year. Stringer said that all of the heart recipients are doing well.

Fefer, whose surgery took about four hours, had been on a waiting list for a new heart since January, 1990, Stringer added.

La Fornara, whose family lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, was the hospital’s second successful double-lung transplant. Hospital officials said she suffered from cystic fibrosis, a fatal disease characterized by thick mucous secretions in the lungs that cause respiratory infections and difficulty in breathing. Victims of cystic fibrosis seldom live more than 30 years, hospital officials said.

Fefer had been on a waiting list since October, 1990, and her operation took about seven hours, Stringer said.

The surgeries were performed by Drs. Stuart Jamieson and Jolene Kriett. Jamieson was described as a specialist in double-lung transplants, and Kriett was said to specialize in heart transplants and the electrical circuitry of the heart.

In addition to the heart and double-lung transplants, doctors at UCSD Medical Center have performed one heart-lung and three single-lung transplants in the past year, Stringer said.