Can we live without a liver?

If you ask someone if they might be willing to live under a certain lack of agency, the answer is definitive: NO. But there is one thing that many people don't realize is that they can actually live without certain body parts.

In some cases, this is because the body has more than one, so the function can be performed by the rest of the body or artificial processes performed by humans to maintain. metabolism.

You can live without a kidney, a stomach, a gallbladder or appendix. For some other organs, it is possible to remove a part without causing fatal consequences, such as the brain and intestines. However, what about our liver, can the same thing happen? How many chances of surviving this important organ?

According to ScienceABC, we will definitely die without a liver . But what if only a part is removed? There are many extremely interesting and extremely useful things about the liver that you should know.

We cannot live without a liver.

Can not live without liver

The liver is an extremely important and essential organ to the body. With an average weight of about 1.5 kg, the liver is a 4-lobed organ located on the upper right of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm. The liver is also the largest internal organ in the body and performs some incredible functions to sustain us for life.

The liver releases toxins from the body by filtering about 1.7 liters of blood every minute. With countless dangerous pathogens and toxins in the blood, without this extremely important function, we cannot prolong life. In addition, the liver is also responsible for producing bile - a very important and essential fluid for digestion. Indeed, if the liver does not remove toxins and get the necessary nutrients for the body, it is conceivable that our external appearance and face will be extremely ugly. If that is not enough, please add that the liver also helps to clot blood and thus prevent internal bleeding.

Finally, the liver even produces some proteins that the body needs for proper metabolic activities. Obviously, liver takes on very important functions in the body. Without the liver, we will not die immediately, but will surely face an extremely unpleasant death. The predictions say that most of us humans will not live more than a year without a liver, and death will "not be very good".

The liver even creates some proteins that the body needs for proper metabolic activities.

Unfortunately, in some cases, the liver may need to be removed, then liver transplant surgery and liver donation are extremely important. The cause of liver replacement or removal of part of the liver including benign hepatic mass is usually due to hepatocellular carcinoma (leading to primary liver cancer), metastatic melanoma (cell Cancer from other infected organ systems spreads to the liver), or cirrhosis (often as a result of excessive alcohol consumption for long periods of time). These risks, along with a long list of other risks, may cause the doctor to conduct partial or complete removal of your liver.

With other organs in the body, transplanting from one person to another is relatively easy. However, with the liver, the rate of your tissue rejects the liver from the donor is much higher than many other organs. This means more analysis and thorough testing is needed to ensure that the liver from the donor "fits perfectly" with the recipient. With explanations about the nature of the liver, the idea of ​​donating a liver to others seems impossible, because that means they have to sacrifice their health. However, there are always liver donors when someone needs a new liver, especially if they are still healthy afterwards.

Looks like we've missed something.

Exactly. In the rest of this article, we will explain what you are wondering .

Renewable ability of the liver

While many organs can heal themselves and even reproduce small parts, the liver has a special ability to grow back to its original state, even if a part of it has been removed. Therefore, when it comes to partial removal of the liver, patients need not worry about finding a donor. Human liver can cut up to 25% of the original size but can still work well after that.

The liver has a special ability to grow back to its original state, even if a part of it has been removed.

Over time, 75% of the rest of the liver will grow and recover as it was, and eventually the patient still has a perfectly healthy liver. The rate of liver can grow very surprisingly, in the first two weeks after surgery (partial removal or partial donation), most of the regeneration will take place. In the next year, development will slow down. Even in this regeneration phase, the liver can continue to function as usual. While most doctors will advise you to stay away from alcohol to avoid excessive stress on the liver, all other liver functions will not be affected.

Although the tongue is actually the fastest self-healing part in the body (due to a constant blood supply), if comparing the relationship between essential and vital parts of the body, the liver is extremely good at self-healing for yourself.

After reading this article, now if a family member needs a liver transplant, you don't need to worry anymore. Because you just know that we cannot live without the liver, but the partial defect is fine and completely healthy.