PITTSBURGH -- Stormie Jones, the 12-year-old who became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient six years ago, received a second new liver Tuesday, replacing an organ ravaged by hepatitis since her initial transplant.
There were no complications during the 10-hour operation, Children's Hospital spokeswoman Marge Buczynski said.
Jones, of White Settlement, Texas, was listed in critical condition, which is standard after such surgery, the spokeswoman said. The girl remains the world's only survivor of a heart-liver transplant.
The new operation, originally expected to last up to 14 hours, began at 3 a.m. EST and concluded at about 1 p.m.
Jones's mother, stepfather and 16-year-old sister flew to Pittsburgh from their Texas home Monday night after doctors told them a suitable donor liver had been found. Doctors had expressed confidence that the child would survive her second liver transplant.
The hospital declined to release any information about the donor, citing a confidentiality policy.
Lead surgeon Dr. Andreas Tzakis had a 'feeling this is a low-risk procedure,' because the child was in good shape going into the operation, a hospital spokeswoman said. The national survival rate for a second liver transplant recipient is between 66 and 70 percent, the spokeswoman said.
Hospital officials said Jones needed a second liver transplant because the organ she received at Children's on Valentine's Day 1984 was ravaged by hepatitis, which could result in kidney failure and death. Doctors say they do not know how she contracted the hepatitis.
Jones's mother, Lois 'Susie' Purcell, said doctors notified her Monday that they had found a suitable donor liver. The hospital declined to release any information about the donor, citing a confidentiality policy.
The girl has been hospitalized several times in the past year because of continuing problems, such as jaundice, itching and irregular sleeping from time to time. She underwent a biopsy at Children's six weeks ago.
Jones's mother said after Tuesday's surgery that she saw the girl 'going down hill' during the past few months as the child's skin became yellowish, she was scratchy and did not sleep well.
'I saw her getting worse and worse during the last four months, but I'm just the mom,' Purcell said at a news conference at the hospital.
Purcell said her daughter also noticed her worsening condition and was ready for the second liver transplant, joking about getting a zipper to avoid future incisions.
'(The girl) knew she was getting worse,' Purcell said. 'When they came to get her (Tuesday morning), she was ready. She wanted it done.'
Tzakis said Jones needed a second liver transplant because the other liver was 'irreversibly damaged.' The surgeon said he did not know just how the girl became infected, but said it was 'probably an ongoing process that existed' due #to various surgical procedures since the double transplant, including the biopsy and many blood transfusions.
Jones, the first of four U.S. patients to receive new hearts and livers simultaneously, underwent the historic double transplant in 1984 because of a genetic disorder that prevented her own liver from processing cholesterol. The condition, known as homogygous familial hypercholesterolemia, resulted in clogged arteries and a heart attack in 1983.
