Lasorda to Leave Hospital

Tom Lasorda, Dodger vice president and former manager, is expected to be released today from Centinela Hospital Medical Center after undergoing angioplasty surgery Friday night.

Lasorda, 69, was resting comfortably in his hospital room Saturday and said that he plans to attend his 2-year-old granddaughter’s birthday party today.

Dr. Michael Mellman, the Dodgers’ team physician, said that Lasorda’s second angioplasty was almost expected since Lasorda underwent the same procedure June 26 when he was admitted for a heart attack and stomach ulcer.

“This was almost a planned event,” Mellman said, “that was part of the follow-up that we had planned for him since his last hospitalization. As a result of this--he had an abnormality in one of the tests that we had predetermined to be done on a regular basis--the repeat coronary angioplasty was performed. That revealed the blockage of the same artery that had been previously been blocked and opened. Therefore, that artery was once again re-opened.

“This is a statistically expected event that occurs most commonly over the first year after an angioplasty is performed.

“The closer to the original angioplasty, the more likely the subsequent stenosis and this can happen more than once. With each subsequent angioplasty to open up the blocked artery, the likelihood of staying open is greater, and the likelihood of Tommy being as ornery as ever is greater.”

Lasorda, who announced his resignation as manager July 29, has expressed possible interest in several managerial vacancies. But with the recent angioplasty, it’s unlikely a team will gamble on his health.

Mellman said it’s unlikely that Lasorda will need bypass surgery.

“The type of problem Tommy has does not lend itself as easily to a bypass as it does to the angioplasty procedure,” Mellman said, “so I would not anticipate that would be likely. However, anyone with coronary artery disease, if it were to get worse, it could progress to such a state that a bypass surgery would be indicated.

“But we are not anticipating that at this point.”