Mantle Has Made It Past ‘First Hazard Zone’

The most acute danger has passed for Mickey Mantle, and he has been transferred out of intensive care to a private room in the transplant ward, his doctors said Saturday.

Dr. Goran Klintmalm, medical director of the Baylor Transplantation Institute at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, said Mantle has moved from the “first hazard zone.”

“He’s now in the phase where life begins again. Night is night and day is day,” Klintmalm said.

Earlier Saturday, a minor procedure was done to remove a post surgical drain from Mantle’s abdomen. Mantle continues to be fed through a tube inserted into his digestive tract through his nasal passages.

He was listed in serious but stable condition.

On the transplant ward, Mantle will be out of bed and placed in a chair, a process that Klintmalm said may prove uncomfortable for the stocky former New York Yankee slugger. Next comes the hazardous phase when Mantle faces the risk of organ rejection. Klintmalm said some rejection is likely and normal in liver transplant cases.

“He runs a 60-65% risk of having a rejection. We expect it to happen,” he said.

Mantle has been taking anti-rejection drugs and high levels of antibiotics.

If rejection occurs, Klintmalm said treatment called for high doses of steroids.

The big problem is the anti-rejection drugs could allow other infections to run wild, a significant risk in Mantle’s case.

“You become much more vulnerable to infection, and Mr. Mantle had a very severe liver infection,” Klintmalm said.

Mantle’s liver had deteriorated after cirrhosis brought on by years of alcohol abuse. A malignant tumor also blocked his bile duct and he had a long-dormant case of hepatitis C.