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Physiology & Medicine / Re: How does donating part of a liver affect the donor?
« on: 13/12/2016 17:30:38 »
The liver is a very remarkable organ. It can sustain a huge amount of damage and regrow itself, so donating half a liver is no big deal - the organ will return to full size and function in 3 - 6 months.
It's more common for kidney malfunction to cause other organs to fail but it can happen either way round. Again, often no big deal as you can function pretty well with just one kidney if the other has sustained acute trauma, but iof both fail or are attacked by a disease, it turns out that a donor kiidney is less likely to be rejected if it is accompanied by a slice of donor liver. Same, apparently, with hearts and lungs - a slice of liver improves transplant outcomes for other organs.
It's more common for kidney malfunction to cause other organs to fail but it can happen either way round. Again, often no big deal as you can function pretty well with just one kidney if the other has sustained acute trauma, but iof both fail or are attacked by a disease, it turns out that a donor kiidney is less likely to be rejected if it is accompanied by a slice of donor liver. Same, apparently, with hearts and lungs - a slice of liver improves transplant outcomes for other organs.
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