POLYCYSTIC LIVER DISEASE INTRODUCTION |
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LIVER CYST TOPICS |
Polycystic liver disease PLD runs in families. It is in the genes. PLD is an inherited genetic disease where smooth liver tissue is replaced by multiples of cysts. This can be ADPLD (liver cysts only) or ADPKD (including kidney cysts). For many years I felt like a lone boat person, fishing for help. News I would receive from time to time was that it is a rare event for a cystic liver to fail. Yet as a cystic liver enlarges it will gradually slow down in performing some of its processes. As the liver becomes filled with more and more cysts, the metabolism of estrogen diminishes. A saliva hormonal profile test can document some of these changes, but many are reluctant to have this costly lab test performed when it does not alter the treatment of PLD. Through a gathering of information, several helpful specialists for Polycystic Liver Disease have emerged. One is Dr. Torres at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota USA. Listen to his lecture on PLD. He is renowned for his research and his continued help for us with Polycystic Liver Disease. He is the leading world expert on Polycystic Liver Disease. An excellent liver resection surgeon is Dr. D. M. Nagorney also from the Mayo Clinic. If you have had a liver resection with Dr. Nagorney send an email. Should you need a transplant, Florida does more transplants than any other state. In the UK there are several hospitals performing liver transplants for cystic livers. Dr. Ubara in Japan achieves a 40% reduction in overall cystic liver size with hepatic artery ablation. If liver pain becomes chronic requiring opiods for pain relief, there is a procedure called splanchnic denervation that is useful for relieving pain that opiods fail to touch. We are hopeful that Octreotide clinical trials to shrink liver cyst growth will prove useful. A few well chosen unique individuals have undergone extensive laparoscopic liver cyst deroofing for pain relief.
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