The Nation : Heart Transplant Recipient Has Bypass

Surgeons at University Medical Center in Tucson have performed what they said is history’s first coronary bypass on a heart transplant recipient. Marjorie J. Rorabough, 59, received a new heart in a transplant in 1979 and Dr. Jack G. Copeland determined on New Year’s Eve that a double bypass was necessary to help her cope with “life threatening” heart disease, said Jan Rooney, director of news communications for the hospital. Rorabough, of Loma Linda, Calif., was in critical but stable condition after the 7 1/2-hour surgery, Rooney said. Rorabough is the longest survivor among the 125 people who have received heart transplants at the medical center.