Author: Dr Divakar Jain

Introduction of liver Liver is the largest gland in the body. A healthy adult liver weighs 1300-1500 grams approximately. It is in the right upper quadrant of the abdominal cavity just below the diaphragm. It is in close relation with the diaphragm on the top, abdominal wall on right side…

Introduction  Liver has a peculiar ability to regenerate. The Greeks knew about it. According to the Greek mythology, Prometheus was punished by Zeus by being chained. Zeus’ eagle used to come and eat a part of Prometheus’ liver. The liver regenerated till being eaten again by the eagle. It is…

Introduction Occasionally one is faced with a situation wherein someone in the family is diagnosed with acute liver failure with no history of any pre-existing liver disease and is advised liver transplant as a life saving measure. Many questions come to mind in such situations: 1)     How does a liver fail…

There are lot of myths about the life after liver transplant. Few common myths are: a) Most of the patients don’t survive a liver transplant b) The quality of life after liver transplant is very poor and a patient is not able to carry out normal activities after transplant c)…

What is organ donation? Organ donation is about donating one’s organs, to be transplanted in another person who needs them for medical reason. It is of two types –  A.   Deceased donor organ donation – organ donation after brain stem death B.    Living donor organ donation – organ donation when healthy  …

What is viral hepatitis? Viral hepatitis is inflammation of liver cells, caused by a viral infection, commonly hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D and hepatitis E viruses. Hepatitis A is the commonest form of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Hepatitis A and E spreads through contaminated food and water.…

What is liver transplantation? As we learnt in an earlier blog, liver transplantation is a procedure to replace a part/whole of liver with a new functioning liver. It is done in two ways:   1)    Deceased donor liver transplantation  2)    Living donor liver transplantation    Deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) Deceased donor…

Liver cirrhosis is an end-stage liver disease. The liver cells can not become normal once the liver becomes cirrhotic. The definitive and sustainable treatment of liver cirrhosis is liver transplantation. However, not all patients with liver cirrhosis require liver transplantation. A cirrhotic patient may not need a transplantation for a…

What is fatty liver? Fatty liver is a condition where excess fat builds up in the liver. It is also known as hepatic steatosis. To define a fatty liver, there should be excess fat deposition in liver and there should not be a secondary cause of fat deposition like alcohol,…