Health is most important in our life but with our busy schedules we often forget about it and start to give invitations to diseases. After kidney failures, liver is the second most common failure faced. So it is very clear that liver disease is also a very common diseases to find among people. The very basic idea of reading this article is you want to know about liver, its functions, what liver transplant is and who needs liver transplant.
The liver is a vital organ on the top right side of the stomach with a weight of 3-4 pounds usually. It is protected by liver cage and hard to feel from outside but when touched internally it is rubbery in touch and dark reddish in color. Its functions are listed below-
- It helps in Blood filtration.
- Stores vitamins, minerals and sugar for the body to use later.
- Detoxifies food and chemical.
- Helps in making proteins that helps in blood clotting
- Produces bile
What is liver transplant?
It is a surgery to remove the deceased or injured liver and replace it with a full or partial new and healthy liver. The new liver should be normal, healthy and disease-free. The person donating the new liver is called Donor. The successful liver transplantation is a life savior giving a new life to the patient. Liver transplant is the only cure for damaged liver because only a liver can perform all the functions, no machine can be trusted for this.
Who needs liver transplant?
People with following liver conditions require liver transplant-
- ALF (Acute Liver Failure) – It is the most unpredicted type of liver failure which can be from any type of disease or infections. Drug Induced Liver Injury happens to be biggest reason behind this failure. Overdose of drugs also leads to acute liver failure.
- CLF (Chronic Liver Failure) – It is also known as last stage liver disease. Its biggest cause is cirrhosis which develop for months, years and even decades from complete failure. It damages complete liver and can be really dangerous.
- Cirrhosis – It is a rare condition where bile duct gets prone to infections.
- NAFLD (Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease)
- Toxic exposures – All the toxins like drugs, alcohol or cigarettes make our liver prone to disease. Alcohol damages the liver in all the possible ways.
- Metabolic and genetic disorders – This comes from family or your genes. But it is quite rare and need to worry is less in such types.
Questions? Call +254 718 994368 / 733 994368 or E-mail wecare@pathwayintl.co.ke
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