San Diego

The Linda Vista woman who received a second transplanted liver Sunday night after her initial transplant failed remained in critical condition Monday at UC San Diego Medical Center.

Hospital officials said that the 8 1/2-hour operation went smoothly and that the woman was awake Monday, breathing through a tube. Hospital spokeswoman Sheri Smith said doctors will not know for six weeks whether the woman’s immune system will accept the new organ.

The second operation became necessary when the woman’s body rejected the initial transplant, made March 9. Doctors said she failed to respond to anti-rejection drugs.

Smith said the surgeons who performed the operations said the woman is at no greater risk now than she was after the first operation. Doctors estimate that 70% to 80% of all liver transplant patients will survive at least a year.

The woman, who remains unidentified, was the first patient in the medical center’s fledgling liver transplant program. A second patient received a transplant April 1 and remains hospitalized in stable condition.