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Surgical Gastroenterologist
Diseases of the Liver:
Liver is a bilobed large meaty organ reddish brown in colour. The liver, located in the right upper quadrant of the abdominal cavity, is divided into eight (8) segments.
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The role of liver is to continuously filter blood that circulates through the body, converting nutrients and drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into ready-to-use chemicals.
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Also Liver removes toxins and other chemical waste products from the blood and readying them for excretion. Because all the blood in the body passes through the liver , it is unusually accessible to cancer cells travelling in the bloodstream.
Liver Cirrhosis
The diseases that lead to cirrhosis injure and kill liver cells, after which the inflammation and repair that is associated with the dying liver cells causes scar tissue to form.
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Cirrhosis is a complication of liver disease that involves loss of liver cells and irreversible scarring of the liver.
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Alcohol and viral hepatitis B and C are common causes of cirrhosis.
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Cirrhosis can cause weakness, loss of appetite, easy bruising, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), itching, and fatigue.
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Cirrhosis of Liver can be confirmed by Liver Biopsy.
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Treatment of cirrhosis is designed to prevent further damage to the liver, treat complications of cirrhosis, and preventing or detecting liver cancer early.
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Symptoms of Liver Cirrhosis:
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Individuals with Liver cirrhosis may have no symptoms or no symptoms.
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Cirrhosis can cause weakness, loss of appetite, easy bruising, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), itching, and fatigue
Liver Tumour / cancer -- Liver resection or Hepatectomy
The sources of cancer for Liver may be from the Liver itself or from any other part of the body
Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, are a group of distinct diseases that affect the liver. Each has different hepatitis symptoms and treatments. And this predisposes a person to liver cancer.
Not all tumours are Cancerous .Some of them are benign (noncancerous), and only some are cancerous and can spread to other parts of the body (metastasize).
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Causes of Liver cancer:
a. Alcohol abuse
b. Hepatitis infection
c. Hemochromatosis (a hereditary disease associated with too much iron in the liver)
d. Cirrhosis (condition of the liver commonly caused by alcohol abuse)
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Liver resection or Hepatectomy :
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Removing the cancer and the surrounding tissues in the liver is known as resection. The goal of liver resection is to completely remove the tumour and the appropriate surrounding liver tissue without leaving any tumour behind.
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Liver resection or Hepatectomy is the surgical removal of all (Full Hepatectomy) or a portion of the liver. (Partial Hepatectomy).
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Partial Hepatectomy is the surgical option when Liver cancer is diagnosed at an early stage.
The size of the tumour and its stage, and the status of the remaining part of the Liver determine the type of Hepatectomy whether partial or full.
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If the tumour is small in size and the rest of the liver is healthy, then the surgeon would opt for removal of a lobe the Liver which is called Lobectomy or hemi hepatectomy.
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When a portion of a normal liver is removed, the remaining liver can grow back.
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A cirrhotic liver, however, cannot grow back. Therefore, before resection is performed the non-tumour portion of the liver should be biopsied to determine whether there is associated cirrhosis.
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