Learn About Your Liver

Fatty liver: dangerous to the heart too

A body that’s healthy stores an appropriate amount of fat that serves the body the way gasoline serves a car: as a source of energy. But the difference ebtween a car and a human body is that you can only put in as much gasoline as the tank will hold.

Not so with a human body. When the balance between energy stores and energy use gets out of proportion, fat accumulates and the body can become a threat to itself.

Thbis is particularly true in the case of a fatty liver, a health condition in which fat deposits build up to a point that’s dangerous and potentially even life threatening.

Fatty liver  is one of the so called dangerous quarter: liver problems, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure or hypertension. These are diseases that often lead to heart disease and related heart problems. 

To read more on the subject, click on fatty liver and heart health.

According to research done at the University of Minnesota, Native Americans of the Northern Plains are much more likely to have liver problems and gallbladder problems than Native Americans in other parts of the U.s., especially the Southwest.

Findings that indicated Native Americans living in the northern half of the country and Alaska have nearly triple the rate of liver cancer and more than twice the rate of gallbladder problems and stomach cancer than whites in the same region.

Dr. David Perdue, a University of Minnesota gastroenterologist and one of the lead scientists in the study, says differences in diet, genetic makeup, smoking, diabetes and environmental conditions may account for the variances.

To read more, click here.

The scariest thing about liver transplant is probably going to be the surgery itself. But life with a transplanted liver only begins in the operating room. A successful liver transplant also depends on what you do in recovery and beyond.

Attitude is a large part of success when it comes to living with a transplanted liver. You’ll have to balance your desire to resume the quality of life you enjoyed before you started having liver problems with some medical necessities triggered by the fact that your body has just undergone some significant trauma and you now have a borrowed organ functioning inside you.

Liver transplant surgery usually requires a 5-10 day hospital stay after your surgery.

You’ll be closely monitored by your medical team for several weeks after your liver transplant. They’ll assess your progress and adjust recovery treatment as necessary. It will be extremely helpful if you can find accomodations close to your transplant center during this time.  Staying nearby is smart for several reasons. First, you won’t be as fatigued by a long trip everytime you have to come in. Second, if there are post surgery complications, you’ll want to get to the center as fast as you can so your doctors can deal with them.

A certain amount of discomfort is inevitable. You’ll have some pain, and your doctor will prescribe medications to help you cope with it.

There will also be medications to help keep your immune system from rejecting your transplanted liver. These medications, or “immunosuppressants,” will help, but the fact is, you’ll probably always have to deal with the rejection issue to one degree or another.

You might also have to take antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal medications to help prevent infections from flaring up. Be aware that some immunosuppressants  increase the possibility you might develop certain medical conditions, or they may complicate problems you already have like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or cancer.

Expect your doctor to give you some guidelines about diet and exercise.

There are a number of reasons a person may not qualify to become a candidate for a liver transplant:

• the patient is currently abusing alcohol or other chemical substances. Generally, these habits helped cause the patient’s liver problems in the first place, and there’s a chance they may continue to abuse alcohol and drugs after transplant surgery. Their new liver would probably fail eventually too,
• there’s cancer elsewhere in the body
• the patient has advanced heart disease or lung disease. A transplanted liver stands a small chance of surviving when heart or lung disease are present
• a severe infection is present
• the patient has an HIV infection
• there has been massive liver failure. If the liver has already failed, there’s probably damage to the brain, other organs and tissue that would make the possibility of a successful liver transplant highly unlikely.

Related articles: cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis

Milk thistle long has been an herb that has beneficial effects on the liver. But results of actual medical research on milk thistle and liver health has been inconsistent.

In 2007, there was a systematic review of published studies involving controlled trials using milk thistle for cirrhosis or hepatitis B or hepatitis C.

Out of 13 double-blind studies, some seemed to show benefits while others did not.

Overall, mortality rates, and the rates of serious liver complications did not improve with milk thistle.

Conclusion: draw your own of course. But since some studies produced supportive evidence, and considering the fact that milk thistle has few adverse effects, anyone with a chronic liver problem may want to discuss milk thistle with their physician.

When you ask most people “What happens to your liver when you drink too much?” they’ll usually reply “cirrhosis.”

They’re right, but their answer only encompasses part of the problems alcohol can cause in relation to liver health.

Fatty liver disease and hepatitis can also result.

In the past, diseases like fatty liver, hepatitis, and cirrhosis have been hard to detect in the early stages. Until now, doctors could only test accurately for fatty liver and other forms of liver damage by placing a biopsy needle into the liver through the stomach wall. This process could damage the liver.

But now a new liver test may help those who imbibe find out just how much damage alcohol consumption is doing without a biopsy.

The test is called Fibroscan, and it employs sound waves to look for changes in the liver. The technology is similar to ultrasound tests used during pregnancy. The test is non-invasive, painless and risk-free. Fibroscan only takes about five minutes.

The theory is that sound waves don’t travel as fast through a soft healthy liver as they do through a hardened, damaged one. 

Consultants at the London Clinic are pleased with Fibroscan so far. They say that the information gained by a such a scan can an  important warning signal in the early detection of fatty liver disease, hepatitis, and other liver-related problems.

Fatty liver disease is on the rise in western countries because of bad diets and higher rates of obesity in populations where food–and alcohol–is plentiful.

Dr Mark Wright, consultant in hepatology at Southampton University Hospital Trust in the United Kingdom said recently that.

“Thanks to the steep rise in obesity and the availability of cheap alcohol, we are seeing more and more people with alcoholic or fatty liver disease in their 20s and 30s.”

Dr. Wright believes that people under 30 continue getting fatter and drinking at the current rate, an epidemic of liver disease could take place in the next 10 to 15 years.

To avoid cirrhosis and fatty liver disease, follow these guidelines;

Maintain a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet.

Exercise regularly to keep off excessive pounds.

Take steps to make sure you get the necessary and essential vitamins and minerals.

Avoid alcohol, or keep alcohol intake to the lowest possible minimum.

Review medications to ensure that they aren’t toxic to your liver.

Levels of  blood sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride should be checked regularly

Check your blood pressure and cholesterol level regularly.
The risk of not following these guidelines is real.

In the United Kingdom alone, the number of young people who have died from alcoholic liver disease has skyrocketed in the past ten years: up 800 percent. In the past six years, three children under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with alcohol-related liver disease.

Consider that cirrhosis usually takes 15 years to develop, these statistics are shocking.

A new study has found that individuals with liver cirrhosis has a relation to the success of any heart surgery they undergo.

Milder cases of cirrhosis will have less of an impact on heart surgery outcomes, but anyone with advanced cirrhosis may need to consider alternative to the usual courses of heart disease treatment. Alternative approaches to heart surgery, such as medically managing the patient’s heart disease, might be necessary until it is possible to perform surgery at the same time as a liver transplant.

Cirrhosis is a degenerative disease of the liver that causes a scarring of the tissues, prevents blood flow through the organ and ultimately impairs liver function. It is often brought on by heavy alcohol use, or infection with hepatitis B or C.

The relationship between the severity of cirrhosis and the success of abdominal surgeries has been known for some time, only a few studies have previously been done on outcomes for heart surgery.

The research team was led by Dr. Farzan Filsoufi of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Based on their research, the team concluded heart surgery can be performed safely and with a good likelihood for survival for patients with a relatively mild degree of cirrhosis.  But complications arose as the degree of severity grew worse. In severe, or “Class C” cases of cirrhosis, complications after the surgery could be as high as one hundred percent.

They therefore recommended that heart surgery patients with cirrhosis be selected carefully to help improve the chance of successful outcomes.

The results of the study have been published in the July 2007 issue of Liver Transplantation.

Western countries are likely to experience a liver disease epidemic within 15 years because of overuse of alcohol, according to doctors in the United Kingdom.

Researchers recently tested 70 passers-by at mobile clinics in London and Birmingham for a TV investigative report and found  that half of them–selected at random–had liver damage caused by drinking alcohol.

According to Rajiv Jalan, the liver consultant who conducted the research in London, “If we do not do anything about it right now, we are looking at a cirrhosis epidemic within 15 to 20 years.”

Dr. Jalan added that health service providers will be hard put to deal with such a liver disease epidemic.

Hospital admissions for liver disease in the United Kingdom have doubled in the past decade. Liver disease diagnoses among people under 30 have risen eight-fold–a staggering increase by any measurement. In recent years, three children under 18 have been treated for liver problems caused by alcohol use.

According to Dr Mark Wright of Southampton University Hospital Trust in the United Kingdom, “Thanks to the steep rise in obesity and the availability of cheap alcohol, we are seeing more and more people with alcoholic or fatty liver disease in their 20s and 30s.”

If people under 30 keep drinking and getting more obese at the current rate, Dr. Wright believes, an epidemic of liver disease could take place in the next 10 to 15 years.

Cirrhosis of the liver, which doctors simply refer to as “cirrhosis,” is an inflammatory disease. It causes blood cells in the liver to age and harden faster. Scarring of liver tissue results, and the liver becomes unable to function properly. Such scarring prevents the normal passage of blood through the liver.

Who performs the liver transplant?

A liver transplant is not just a surgical procedure.  A liver transplant is a process that involves a team of people with separate but sometimes similar responsibilities to insure your liver transplant is a success.
The liver transplantation team

A liver transplant recommendation often begins with your primary doctor.  If he or she thinks a liver transplant is necessary, you’ll also be evaluated by

• a transplant coordinator,
• a liver specialist, or hepatologist,
• the transplant surgeon who will actually perform the operation.

Depending on your age and health, and emotional outlook, your liver transplantation team may also include

• a cardiologist or heart specialist
• a pulmonologist or lung specialist.
• a psychiatrist who can help you through the emotions and fears that are a normal part of major surgery.
• a social worker to help you develop a support system you can draw on before, during, and after your liver transplant. The social worker also checks to see that the recipient is taking medications appropriately.

The usual candidate has advanced liver disease but is otherwise in good health.