Mantle’s Cancer Spreads to Lung; Prognosis Grim

Baseball legend Mickey Mantle’s chances for long-term survival following a recent liver transplant plunged sharply Tuesday when he revealed that his liver cancer had spread to one of his lungs before surgeons removed the organ.

Although physicians at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas said they were unable to detect any evidence that the tumor had spread before they undertook the transplant operation on June 8, a CT scan taken two weeks ago showed several spots on Mantle’s right lung, indicating the cancer indeed had migrated from the liver and taken root in the lung.

Although physicians at Baylor are treating the lung metastases aggressively with chemotherapy, Mantle’s “odds of survival are not good,” said Dr. Lawrence Leichman, an oncology expert at the USC School of Medicine. For the spots to have shown up in the lung this quickly after a thorough examination in June showed none, Leichman said, means that the tumor “is very aggressive, and that’s real trouble.”

Physicians cannot predict how long Mantle, 63, will survive, but in general, a liver tumor that has metastasized to the lung is usually fatal, Leichman added. Survival in such a case can be “weeks, months or even years,” he said, but Leichman said he considers the aggressive nature of Mantle’s tumor to be ominous. A metastasis to the lung is usually more deadly than a cancer that originates in the lung because the tumor cells that have spread from elsewhere are scattered throughout the lung instead of being isolated in one spot.

Mantle revealed the presence of the new spots Tuesday in a taped message on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” In the clip, taped Friday, the former New York Yankee star said: “Hi, this is Mick. When I left Baylor University Medical Center about six weeks ago, I felt great . . .

“I come back to the hospital for checkups every once in a while, and about two weeks ago, the doctors found a couple of spots of cancer in my lungs.”

Mantle also thanked the fans for all of their support and added: “If you’d like to do something really great, be [an organ] donor.”

Dr. Robert Goldstein, who performed the transplant after Mantle’s own liver ceased functioning, confirmed the finding in a news conference Tuesday.

“We were not surprised but we were disappointed,” he said. “It is presumed that the lung cancer was present but was very small and undetectable at the time of the transplant.”

Goldstein noted that Mantle’s donor liver is functioning quite well and pointed out that that is a positive sign in his battle against cancer.

“If we had a liver that was not working very well, it would be a different situation in that we could not use as much of the chemotherapy as we’d like,” he said.

Mantle was discharged from the medical center Tuesday.

Had physicians known that Mantle’s liver cancer had metastasized before the operation, they would “absolutely not” have proceeded with the controversial procedure, Goldstein said at the news conference. Given what they did know at the time, however, “we would do the same thing again,” he added.

Controversy surrounded the procedure on two counts. Many surgeons argue that valuable and scarce donor organs should not be “wasted” on individuals who have, in effect, brought their conditions on themselves through their behavior. Mantle’s cirrhotic liver was a direct result of the heavy drinking he did both during and after his legendary career, as well as a hepatitis infection that he is assumed to have contracted during one of the many operations to repair his baseball injuries.

Critics have also charged that Mantle received preferential treatment because of his celebrity status. Mantle received the transplant within two days, although the waiting time for a new liver is generally several months. Goldstein has denied that any preference occurred, however, arguing that a compatible liver simply became available when Mantle needed it.

Mantle, who replaced Joe DiMaggio as the Yankees’ centerfielder in 1951, was a dirt-poor country boy from Oklahoma. He played with the team for 18 seasons, during which it won 12 American League pennants and seven World Series titles and Mantle himself acquired three Most Valuable Player awards.

He batted over .300 five straight years, with a a career-high .365 in 1957, and won the Triple Crown (batting, home runs and runs batted in titles) in 1956. He retired in 1968.

Both his father and grandfather died in their 40s, and his hard-living lifestyle reflected his belief that he would as well. “Had I known I was going to live so long,” he often said, “I would have taken better care of myself.”