Why the Liver
Some of you may wonder why the liver has so much importance to demand so much attention.
There are several reasons. I will explain in some small detail why you should not ignore your liver.
1. It is one of the largest organs of the body
2. It serves as a conduit through which most of the food we eat gets into our blood stream before being distributed to the rest of the body. After eating, food gets digested into small molecules. These are largely absorbed into the blood stream and which gets to the heart for pumping round the body. Between the heart and the intestines, is the liver - which further processes some of the food
3. The liver serves as a store reserve of food for intermediate requirements. Glycogen, a complex form of molecules of glucose is stored largely within the liver. The liver also stores several essential minerals and vitamins such as iron, copper and vitamin B12.
4. The liver is involved in ensuring that our clotting system does not become deranged. It produces proteins that ensures formation of clot at sites of injury, in order to stop further blood loss
5. In the unborn child, the liver is involved in the formation of blood cells
6. The liver produces chemicals that ensures adequate distribution of fluids around the body. Albumin is involved in this process. In a diseased liver, this protein is low, leading to excess fluid accumulation in the abdomen and elsewhere.
7. Many drugs that we take need to be converted to active forms or removed from the body after they have undergone their actions, by the liver.
The liver reserve is very large, in that it takes more than 75% of the cells of the liver to be damaged before clinical disease is manifest.
Short term damage to the liver is often associated with some recovery.
For a small proportion of those that do not recover, they proceed to having chronic damage (chronic here, defines length of time rather than severity). When that results, then the following are consequences:
1. Cirrhosis results - a state where the liver becomes stiffened by fibrotic scar tissue
2. A state of hypertension results - as blood flow through a stiffened liver works across a steep gradient
3. Back flow leads to enlargement of the spleen
4. The function of the spleen becomes exaggerated and a state of hypersplenism results - here, the cells involved in immediate halting of bleeding, platelets are culled and consumed and so their total number is significantly reduced
4. Attempts at recruiting small proportion of viable liver cells to regenerate results in nodule formation
5. The function of the liver becomes compromised and thus - weight loss, low clotting profiles and bleeding tendency, skin becomes yellow
6. Toxins that are normally removed from the body are now not able to be removed and these get to the brain and then cause it to swell and make the patient presents with altered personality - hepatic encephalopathy
7. Distorted errors in regenerating cells lead to cancer formation and then death.
With these few points, I hope you now would see why I have given so much attention to the liver!
Nimzing
There are several reasons. I will explain in some small detail why you should not ignore your liver.
1. It is one of the largest organs of the body
2. It serves as a conduit through which most of the food we eat gets into our blood stream before being distributed to the rest of the body. After eating, food gets digested into small molecules. These are largely absorbed into the blood stream and which gets to the heart for pumping round the body. Between the heart and the intestines, is the liver - which further processes some of the food
3. The liver serves as a store reserve of food for intermediate requirements. Glycogen, a complex form of molecules of glucose is stored largely within the liver. The liver also stores several essential minerals and vitamins such as iron, copper and vitamin B12.
4. The liver is involved in ensuring that our clotting system does not become deranged. It produces proteins that ensures formation of clot at sites of injury, in order to stop further blood loss
5. In the unborn child, the liver is involved in the formation of blood cells
6. The liver produces chemicals that ensures adequate distribution of fluids around the body. Albumin is involved in this process. In a diseased liver, this protein is low, leading to excess fluid accumulation in the abdomen and elsewhere.
7. Many drugs that we take need to be converted to active forms or removed from the body after they have undergone their actions, by the liver.
The liver reserve is very large, in that it takes more than 75% of the cells of the liver to be damaged before clinical disease is manifest.
Short term damage to the liver is often associated with some recovery.
For a small proportion of those that do not recover, they proceed to having chronic damage (chronic here, defines length of time rather than severity). When that results, then the following are consequences:
1. Cirrhosis results - a state where the liver becomes stiffened by fibrotic scar tissue
2. A state of hypertension results - as blood flow through a stiffened liver works across a steep gradient
3. Back flow leads to enlargement of the spleen
4. The function of the spleen becomes exaggerated and a state of hypersplenism results - here, the cells involved in immediate halting of bleeding, platelets are culled and consumed and so their total number is significantly reduced
4. Attempts at recruiting small proportion of viable liver cells to regenerate results in nodule formation
5. The function of the liver becomes compromised and thus - weight loss, low clotting profiles and bleeding tendency, skin becomes yellow
6. Toxins that are normally removed from the body are now not able to be removed and these get to the brain and then cause it to swell and make the patient presents with altered personality - hepatic encephalopathy
7. Distorted errors in regenerating cells lead to cancer formation and then death.
With these few points, I hope you now would see why I have given so much attention to the liver!
Nimzing
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