How long does the liver last?

Greek myths have always fascinated mankind, even in our high technological age (for us, Walt Disney and many others also experienced a similar sense of innovation), the myths of Athena still show us the path of knowledge and wisdom, I will tell you.

When Zeus punished the Titan Prometheus for stealing fire to return it to mankind, and tied him to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, an eagle came every day and ate part of his liver. Every night, his vital organ grows back, which means he will have to endure his punishment forever. The Prometheus myth has inspired artists and scientists. In medicine, it has become a symbol of the liver’s ability to regenerate.

For the liver surgeon, liver regeneration has become an indispensable ally. It is inferred that the ancient Greeks were already aware of the liver’s ability to restore itself.

I will tell you at the end how this story ended, if it had an end … I also wonder if the ancients put an end to the regeneration of liver cells. Nowadays, at the recent American Congress of Surgery, an interesting scientific study showed that deceased liver donors at the age of eighty had their organs functioning excellently in younger recipients more than twenty years later, with donated grafts exceeding a hundred years.

Older donors are not preferred by us for transplantation, due to the potential for a greater chance of downtime due to scarring (fibrosis bridges), fat accumulation, previous viral infections, and their statistical frequency. The longer you live, the greater the chance of developing these problems, but due to the lack of organs, we use them in well-thought-out situations, which reduces the risk.

But when the liver is good, and it is eighty years of age or older, the study has shown that it can be better than a liver of a young age, and further work will be done to assess the reasons for this characteristic.

When patients ask “Dr. How long will my liver last?”, I reply: “Indefinitely…, as long as you take good care of it!”

Back to our Greek history…

Having completed his twelve labors, Hercules freed Prometheus from his punishment and suffering. However, there was an exchange for the centaur Chiron, which was a condition for ensuring the release of Prometheus. So Chiron was the first liver donor of mankind!

note:

In Brazil, we have performed more than 32,000 liver transplants in the past 15 years. However, we have to do twice as much. We have lost many patients due to a lack of Chirons.