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Liver, The (3/8)

This is also part of this series: Don't Die Young (8)

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Subjects: Anatomy, Health Issues, Human Body, Medicine, Nutrition, Science

Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No

Running Time: 30 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No

Copyright Date: 2008
Available in French: No

The liver is a ticking tomb bomb. The British Liver Trust estimates that one in ten UK citizens will suffer from some form of liver disease at some point in our lives. Yet often the liver doesn’t complain until it is too late.

Brits are drinking more than ever before and 50% of liver disease is believed to be alcohol-related. This episode follows two women from the West Midlands whose lifestyles reflect many people’s experience with alcohol. Julie Brant is in her forties and the manager of an art gallery. Her daughter, Katy, is 21. They both enjoy alcohol but have very different drinking patterns – Julie entertains as part of her job two or three times a week, whereas Katy will go for days without alcohol but then binge-drinks on party nights. They agree to keep a drinks diary for a week and then review the sobering results with Dr Alice, while she sets about explaining how the liver works.

It used to be thought that only alcoholics got cirrhosis of the liver, but doctors now realise that this is not necessarily the case and that our genes and other aspects of our lifestyles all play their part. The programme follows the story of Philip Parker from Bristol, who is on the waiting list for a liver transplant. His cirrhosis has recently developed into liver cancer and a transplant is his only hope: “Every time you go to see a doctor, or you go to see somebody, they automatically assume that you are, or were, a recovering alcoholic. I was never an alcoholic; I was never alcohol dependent. It’s just one of those things that catches up on you.” Finally, Philip gets the call and so begins an anxious but potentially life-saving operation as surgeons are filmed replacing his liver.

Dr Alice also visits scientists at Newcastle University who hope in the long term to be able to grow replacement livers from stem cells obtained from a baby’s umbilical cord. Professsor Colin McGuckin says: “Well, we believe that surgeons are already beginning to show what we call a mini-liver transplant, where we’re no longer trying to replace the entire liver of a patient; we’ll just give them a small transplant. So we think that when we’re able to grow many of these spheres and put them into a section, we will be able to inject them into damaged areas of the liver.”

Asked how far in the future this might be possible, he replies: “Well, we have to be honest with patients about these things. I think it’s going to be 10 or 20 years before we’ll be able to grow enough of them to help an adult, but I think for small children we’ll be able to do it much quicker.”

Although the liver does have the ability to regenerate, with liver disease on the increase both from alcohol and other causes (it has been estimated that within 30 years obesity will over take alcohol as the primary cause of cirrhosis in the UK), this is an organ in peril. But hopefully this programme will save a few lives. As Dr Alice says: “…it’s clear from what we’ve seen about how the liver functions in health and in adversity that this is a disaster which can be averted. And it doesn’t mean a life of abstinence either. It’s about moderation. Because if you look after your liver, it’ll spend a lifetime looking after you.”

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