--- In gallstones@egroups.com,

"Dale Williams" <Da_Williams@e...> wrote:


The liver is made up of many ducts, much like city streets. Sometimes
a street can be clogged but it doesn't necessarily stop all traffic
from moving elsewhere. Now the biggest difference is that the liver
is more like a tree in that the branches all connect to a main trunk.
It's the main trunk's clogging that we have to worry most about. A
stone such as the one that's in the picture you've seen is at a
branch in the liver which can still be gone around. It's the common
bile duct that is the most worrisome to consider as being clogged.
When it gets clogged the bile doesn't flow where it's suppose to flow
and then backs up into the body.

Various things take place at that time. One is pain, in most cases.
The next is jaundice and liver damage with the potential of pancreas
problems too. However, the liver is able to rejuvenate, unlike most
other organs of the body, and can recover quite well, as it does time
and again. It's when it won't that the real trouble sets in.

Now back to a stone in the liver. A clog of the liver can certainly
cause other problems but the bile will still flow from other areas of
the liver. However, the stone can cause an area of the liver to have
trouble, and that is when there is a reason for going to see a
competent doctor to see if cirrhosis has taken place.

If you have Dr. Cabot's book "The Liver Cleansing Diet" there is a
very good picture of the liver in a cutaway view that gives you a
good bit of insight as to the construction of the liver, which was
allowed as a reprint from a Blackwell Scientific Publication. Since
it is a drawing the view is much more easily discernable compared to
a photo.

Dale
Da_Williams@m...

----- Original Message -----
From: D B
To: gallstones@egroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 5:17 AM
Subject: Re: [gallstones] Liver II


Dale,

Ok, but wouldn't a bile duct inside the liver would eventually
connect to
something leading out of the liver? And therefore, couldn't
something back
up into it? These are unresearched questions I am asking here, so
pardon me
if I appear ignorant. I will also ask my surgeon tomorrow.

Thanks.

Debra