Facts about Liver Part 1

What is the liver?

At around the size of a rugby ball, the liver is the body's largest organ, weighing some 1.8kg (4lb) in men and 1.3kg (2.8lb) in women. At any given time it holds about half a litre (one pint) of blood - over a 10th of the body's total blood supply.

It's positioned just under the ribs - place your hand over the lower right-hand side of your ribs and it will just about cover the area of your liver.

The liver is dark reddish-brown in colour and made up of two sections (lobes), the right being much larger than the left. It has two blood supplies: one from the heart and the other, full of nutrients, from the intestines (the portal vein).

Two-thirds of the liver is made up of liver cells; the rest is made up of tubes known as bile ducts.

Liver cells regenerate quickly, if cells are lost they are replaced within a few hours. This means that the liver can heal itself, to a degree (while it can renew liver cells, it cannot repair the bile duct). However, if the liver becomes severely damaged there comes a point at which it’s no longer able to repair itself.

courtesy: BBC Health