printable versionBoy recovers from dual transplant
Nine-year-old Vincent Sanchez and his mother, Lori, are all smiles after Vincent became the youngest child in the world to receive a combined kidney-liver transplant at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital to cure a rare and deadly metabolic disorder known as methylmalonic acidemia, MMA. The condition makes proteins difficult to metabolize and causes the liver to generate dangerously high levels of acid that can destroy internal organs. Vincent is one of only five people to receive the dual transplant to treat MMA; three of these surgeries have been performed at Packard by multi-organ transplant pioneer Carlos Esquivel, MD, PhD. Vincent's surgery took place on Jan. 15, and his doctors are calling it a major success. "His developmental skills, motor skills and appetite have improved dramatically," said metabolic disease expert Gregory Enns, MD.