1st County Liver-Kidney Transfer Performed

A 48-year-old San Diego woman has become the county’s first liver-kidney transplant recipient, hospital officials announced Friday.

Michiko Buch, the mother of three and the grandmother of three, received both organs in surgery Thursday at the Green Hospital of Scripps Clinic in La Jolla. She remained in critical but stable condition Friday, which is customary after transplant surgery, said Sue Pondrom, a hospital spokeswoman.

The operation was performed by surgeons from Scripps Clinic and Sharp Memorial Hospital, and marked a natural extension of the Scripps liver transplant program, which began last July, Pondrom said. Buch was the 15th patient at Scripps to receive a liver transplant in the past year, she said.

“The only reason this city hasn’t seen (a liver-kidney transplant) sooner is that we hadn’t had a liver transplant program, like a good many of other cities have done,” Pondrom said.

According to a statement released by John Brems, the lead surgeon in Thursday’s operation, Buch needed a new liver because of chronic hepatitis B. She had had a kidney transplant, which lasted four years before her body rejected it, the statement said.