The Liver Series

Have you noticed that the uniform colors for the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers are liver colors? All that blue, red, and orange is a classic hepatic color scheme. Sure, the yellow is missing, but no one was thinking about the liver when they designed these uniforms.

Do the Giants have really huge livers?

Wheel of Liver

Still honoring the fact that October is liver awareness month, here is more liver trivia:

• A double-layered membrane encases the liver. This protects the liver against friction from nearby organs.
• Liver cells do not have nerves. This means that technically a liver biopsy would not hurt if doctors could perform a liver biopsy without puncturing the skin, membrane and surrounding tissue. However, the majority of liver biopsy procedures are percutaneous, meaning a needle needs to pass through the skin and surrounding tissue in order to get to the liver. This is why a local anesthetic is used to numb the area.
• The liver has over 500 functions. The human body relies on the liver for regulation of energy, hormonal balance and clotting.  It also filters nutrients, poisons and bacteria.

Hepardy

Alan Franciscus, Director of the Hepatitis C Support Project, modeled a game after the popular game show, Jeopardy. He named this liver trivia game, Hepardy. Here are more liver facts in honor of Liver Awareness Month:

• The liver can re-grow damaged cells. This is known as regeneration. The liver can regenerate an entire liver from only one-fourth of a functioning liver.
• You can live without your gall bladder. You cannot live without your liver.
• A veritable highway system of arteries, veins and capillaries run through the liver. A quart and a half of blood flows through the liver every minute.

Trivia Pursuit or Livia Hirsute?

October is liver awareness month. This is also the first anniversary of this blog. In honor of these events, I will present trivia about the liver.

• The liver is the largest internal organ. 
• Roughly, the size of a football, the liver typically weighs around three pounds.
• The liver is a non-complaining organ.  Three quarters of the liver can be damaged and you might not notice any signs of it.  
• Everything passes through the liver. This includes everything you eat, breathe, and apply to your skin.