The Liver: Your Body's Processing Plant

Learn how to keep it healthy

Just under your right ribcage is one of your largest and most important organs—your liver. “It’s a giant warehouse and processing center for your body,” says Margaret Hoffman- Terry, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “Everything you eat, drink, breathe and absorb through your skin eventually reaches the liver, where it’s either absorbed or gotten rid of.”

This football-sized organ stores sugar (glucose) and releases it when you need energy. It breaks down nutrients into products your body can use, which are then released into your bloodstream. It also breaks down toxic substances and helps flush them out.

“A healthy liver keeps your body healthy,” says Tanveer Imam, M.D., a gastroenterologist at the hospital. “While it’s very resilient, the liver is not indestructible, so it’s important to take care of it.”

Drinking too much alcohol is the most common cause of liver disease. It can lead to long-term damage such as cirrhosis (scarring and shrinking) and even liver cancer.

Hepatitis (type A, B or C) is another major threat—it causes the liver to swell and can result in cirrhosis or liver failure. Chronic hepatitis B or C increases your risk for developing liver cancer.

Here’s how to protect your liver:
Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all.
Don’t mix alcohol and medications.

Certain drugs, including acetaminophen (Tylenol), can be lethal when combined with alcohol.

Prevent hepatitis. Hepatitis A is fairly rare, but you can get it by eating food prepared by an infected person who didn’t wash his hands. Hepatitis B and C are spread through exposure to infected blood or body fluids. Vaccinations are available for hepatitis A and B, so make sure you get them. (B is routinely given to children.) People who engage in risky behaviors should use condoms and never share needles, says Hoffman-Terry, who treats patients at the hospital’s Hepatitis Care Center.

Don’t eat too many fatty foods. They make your liver work harder.

What are the symptoms of liver problems? Call the doctor if you notice yellowing of the eyes and skin, chronic tiredness, swollen feet, abdominal pain and swelling, dark urine and/or pale stool, nausea or loss of appetite. Other warning signs are elevated liver enzymes (in a blood test) or evidence of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Want to Know More about hepatitis? Call 610-402-CARE or click here.

A Local Woman Is Treated for Liver Cancer

Less than a year after learning she was free of colon cancer, Barbara Crush of Whitehall got devastating news: the cancer had metastasized (spread) to her liver.

Her doctor, Lehigh Valley Hospital oncologist Dennis Giangiulio, M.D., recommended that Crush, 67, see a surgical oncologist about whether the tumor could be removed. Giangiulio’s colleague, surgical oncologist Paul Mosca, M.D., used a new technique: he “resected” (removed) the left part of her liver using special instruments through very small incisions. Then she had chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells.

“Resection is the best option for patients with a healthy liver when the entire tumor can be removed,” Mosca says. “Within a few weeks, the liver regenerates and grows back nearly to its original size.” Before long, Crush was well enough to do what she loves most: bargain shopping with her husband, Harold. “We feel very blessed,” she says.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, September-October 2007

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