FAQ's
- Are life-long medicines necessary after liver transplant?
- Yes, but the number of medicines and the doses decrease with passage of time. Most patients are only on small doses of 1 or 2 medicines...
Liver facts
- The liver is the largest internal and most metabolically complex organ in humans.
- The liver is critical to a person’s well being as it performs over 500 different chemical functions including fighting off infection, neutralizing toxins, manufacturing proteins and hormones, controlling blood sugar and helping to clot the blood.
- The liver has an extraordinary capacity to regenerate (reproduce itself), it is the only organ that can do so. For example, if the liver is damaged it will soon regenerate in an attempt to restore its functions. Again, if a part of the liver is cut out, it likewise will grow back (regenerate) rapidly. In fact, when a person donates a part of his or her liver for transplantation, much of the part that is removed will soon grow back while the transplanted portion will grow to the appropriate size for the recipient.
- The liver is your body's "protector," you can’t live without it and damage to it can result in serious, potentially life-threatening consequences.
- The Greek word for liver is 'hepar' that's the reason why medical terms related to the liver often start with 'hepato'- or 'hepatic'.
- At any one time, the liver contains about 10% of the blood in your body and it pumps about 1.4 litres through per minute.
- Dr. Thomas E. Starzl performed the first human liver transplant in 1963 at the University of Colorado Medical School; however, lack of effective immunosuppressive drugs limited the success. Four years later, the availability of more effective immunosuppressives enabled Dr. Starzl to perform the first successful liver transplant.
- The first liver transplant in Canada was performed by Dr. Pierre Daloze in Montreal, Quebec in 1970.
- The Greeks considered the liver as the seat of emotions. They practised something called 'hepatoscopy' which involved sacrificing oxen or goats and examining their livers to determine whether their military campaigns would succeed or fail. The Greeks viewed the liver as being the organ in closest contact with divinity.
