I'm remembering a talk show where some guy was featured because of an altruistic gesture he made when he donated his liver to a dying child with a rare blood type. At one point it was mentioned that his liver would grow back or something, but they did not elaborate. Didn't make any sense to me. Is it possible they used only part of his liver and that the remaining part would return to normal?
2006-10-24 02:16:55 · 6 answers · asked by paganvegan 3 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Other - Diseases
he probably donated a single lobe of his liver, your liver has 2 major lobes and two minor ones. That type of procedure has only anecdotal evidence supporting it that it works, and there's no evidence that there's any improvement in long term survival for the recipient. In theory it could work, but in practice, it's generally not done much. He won't grow an entire new lobe of his liver, humans aren't capable of that. If that were the case, than we wouldn't ever need liver transplants, people wouldn't die of hepatitis, liver cancers, or cirrhosis.
As mentioned though, individual liver cells can regenerate. That's not to say you can cut out your liver and a new one will grow back. Unlike other organs, in the case of certain diseases and injury, where the liver function is comprimised, through appropriate medical treatment, the cells can heal and the liver can be functional again. Of course thousands of people die every year from liver disease and liver failure, so this isn't some kind of miracle healing that's being done, this is just a good hardy organ that can take some punishment.
It's just an organ that has a greater capability to heal itself than other organs. It's probably an evolutionary mechanism that's been built in because the liver itself is the main site of metabolism in the body, where breakdown of chemicals often results in toxic metabolites which can destroy cells locally. Since it's doing that 24 hours a day, the cells have probably just adapted a greater capacity to heal and regrow. This is in contrast to say, your heart or lungs, which cannot regrow new cells and cannot heal at all.
2006-10-24 02:29:53 · answer #1 · answered by banzai 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Liver cells can regenerate. A whole liver though....unlikely. Now, if he only donated part of his liver (a small part) than yeah, it will eventually recover to full functioning. Note. A child's liver is much smaller than an adults. So, yeah. I can see this happening.
It is very altruistic though. There is a good chance he could have dies and an even greater chance that his liver would not recover. It is hardly a trivial thing to do.
2006-10-24 09:21:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The liver is the only organ that will regenerate. You can't grow a new one but healthy one will heal so to speak.
2006-10-24 09:22:27 · answer #3 · answered by starchild_kisschild 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It will regenerate yes as he only could donate part of his liver because he was living.
2006-10-24 09:26:11 · answer #4 · answered by flip103158 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A portion of a normal liver can be removed and it will regenerate.
2006-10-24 09:50:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. you can not grow a new liver.
2006-10-24 10:02:11 · answer #6 · answered by i_wanna_know 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋