People with severe liver failure (usually due to cirrhosis ) are ideal candidates for liver transplantation .
Liver transplantation, or hepatic transplantation, is that delicate surgical operation by which a liver is replaced hopelessly damaged with another healthy one, coming from a compatible donor.
Usually, the "new" liver is taken from a recently deceased donor ; however, there is also the possibility of taking the sample from a consenting living subject .
This opportunity derives from the fact that the liver is the only human organ capable of self - regenerating itself after its partial removal.
If you look at the recent past, you may notice that several famous people had to undergo liver transplantation, some of which are true icons of their area of expertise.
Let's see who it is ...
Most likely, the most well-known liver transplant is Steve Jobs, co-founder of a very famous computer company, entrepreneur and film producer.
Born in 1955 and died in 2011, Jobs had to work in 2009, due to a serious pancreatic cancer, diagnosed to him in 2004.
Moving on to the sporting world, it is impossible not to mention former French national and Barcelona back-he, Eric Abidal, and the very strong Northern Irish striker, George Best .
Their stories are definitely different.
- Still alive, Abidal was operated on in April 2012 (at the age of 32), due to a neoplastic recurrence to the same organ. In fact, thirteen months earlier (March 2011), he had been diagnosed and immediately removed a severe liver tumor .
To give the liver to Abidal was the cousin and, contrary to what some doctors had expected, the footballer was able to resume competitive activity one year after the operation (April 2013).
He recently retired: December 19, 2014.
- Instead, dead for almost 10 years (November 2005), Best was operated in 2002 (at 56), due to severe liver cirrhosis. Moreover, the former Manchester United footballer - still considered one of the greatest strikers in the history of football - abused alcohol from a young age .
