Surgeons performing a liver transplant.
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Contributor:
Medicshots / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
D802EXFile size:
31.4 MB (1.4 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4064 x 2704 px | 34.4 x 22.9 cm | 13.5 x 9 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
11 November 2008More information:
Surgeons performing a liver transplant at the Samsung Medical Centre, South Korea. A liver transplant is an operation where your diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy donor human liver. Although liver transplants are now quite common, the operation is not undertaken lightly. It is a major operation and the body will always see the 'new' liver as a foreign agent and will try to destroy it. This means that if you have a liver transplant you will have to take medication for the rest of your life in order to stop your body rejecting the donor liver. The main causes of severe liver damage that lead to people needing a transplant are cirrhosis, hepatitis, metabolic conditions (problems with the physical and chemical processes that take place inside your liver to keep you alive) and paracetamol poisoning.