Why liver transplantation is needed
The liver transplant is also known as the hepatic transplant and this can actually save life of an individual whose liver has been destroyed due to some illness or injury. When this surgery happens, it provides the recipient with a healthy organ so that the body can go back to normal functioning.
But why a liver transplantation is recommended? Here are the following reasons.
- If there is some birth defects in the lover or the bile ducts like the bileria atresia do not have normal openings neither inside nor outside the liver.
- There is a liver damage due to cirrhosis of liver or the primary biliary cirrhosis.
- If there is a long term active infection line Hepatitis.
- Due to some metabolic disorders like the lover failure.
- Thrombosis or the hepatic vein clot.
The liver stores a lot of vitamins and body fuels. As a result, it can manufacture some plasma proteins and it also regulates the blood volumes. Liver is the largest organ of a human body which manages the products from normal red blood cell breakdown to other functions like conversion of bile (this is a thick and digestive fluid that helps in breaking down the fats into fatty acids).
The liver can also detoxify the poisonous body waste into some less toxic forms and it can be safely excreted through urine. Liver performs some crucial functions in a human body and so without it, life cannot be sustained.
How a liver transplant is performed?
The first thing that one needs here is a healthy liver from a recently deceased donor and it has to be preferably from someone who has never faced any liver disease. Also it is very important that the donated liver or the liver segment has to be accepted by the patient’s body. So it can also be done by taking liver tissue from a close relative as it mostly matches with the recipient’s immune system.
Also the liver has a lot of regenerative faculties. That is why; a close family member can always donate a segment of the lover to save their closed one’s life. One can get to know the liver transplant cost from the specialised doctors and this transplantation surgery can take up to 12 hours. The tampered lover is removed by making an incision in the upper abdomen. Then the donor liver or the liver tissue is attached to the patient’s bile ducts and the blood vessels.
Now what can be the risks involved in this? This is a very complicated surgery and so there are some major risks for the living donor and the recipient. There can be bleeding during and post surgery. Also some immunosuppressive medications are given to the recipient so that there should not be any transplant rejection. This medication can increase the chance of infection attacks. Also the signs of infection can include fever, jaundice, diarrhoea and tenderness.
But if the transplantation is successful, the receiver gets a new life altogether. They can live a healthy life ahead.