CNN Vital Signs talks about liver health

The new episode of “CNN Sinais Vitais”, presented by doctor Roberto Kalil, will address liver health. This organ is the second largest and the largest gland in the body.

The liver is the only part of the human body that cannot be replaced by a machine. The kidney can have its function replaced, for example, with hemodialysis, while the lung can be replaced with mechanical respirators and even the heart with artificial hearts. Not the liver, in this case.

If the liver becomes compromised due to a health problem or malfunction, it can only be saved by transplant.

“The liver is our central laboratory. It has more than a thousand functions. Everything we ingest passes through the liver”, says José Huygens Parente Garcia, head of the digestive surgery and liver transplant service at the Federal University of Ceará.

Diseases that affect the liver include hepatitis C, hepatitis B, cirrhosis, alcoholism and the fatty liver disease, steatosis.

Steatosis alone represents 12% of organ transplant needs in Brazil, according to experts. The rate grew 100% from 2000 to 2020. In the United States, this rate is currently 30%.

Liver diseases tend to be silent, and patients only find out about them when the condition has already progressed.

“The liver is a very large organ, and the lesion only hurts when it invades the lining capsule. The tumors grow, and the lesions that grow internally are asymptomatic”, explains Augusto Carneiro, director of the transplant and surgery service at HCMUSP.

Therefore, it is important for people to understand the products they consume, because all foods and drinks will affect the liver.

“CNN Vital Signs” will air on Saturday, December 30, at 7:15 pm, on CNN .