Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the second most carried out transplant procedure in the world. It is a potentially difficult surgery that is performed by a team of two to four surgeons along with the help of anesthesiologists and nurses. It takes around 10 to 12 hours to complete the procedure as there are many anastomoses, sutures, reconnections, and disconnections, which are to be performed under the liver bed which is necessary for the transplant to be a success.

Tests required before a transplant is planned

Computed tomography, or CT scan which employs X-rays and a computer to create pictures of the liver, showing its size and shape. CTs and chest X-rays are also recorded to evaluate your heart and lungs.
Laser Doppler flowmetry: to check if the blood vessels to and from the liver are normal.
Echocardiogram to check the status of heart function.
Pulmonary function test or lung capacity test to study and determine the lungs' ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Blood tests are performed to determine the patient's blood type, clotting ability, and biochemical status of blood, and to determine liver function.
The liver transplant procedure

After an admission at the hospital, an Intravenous line is started in the patient's arm or hand. Other tubes (catheters) are put in their neck and wrist, or their collarbone or the area between the belly and the thigh (the groin). These are used to check heart and blood pressure, and to get blood samples.
The patient is placed on the back, over the operating table.
If there is too much hair at the surgical site, it may be shaved.
A catheter is placed into the bladder to drain urine.
After the patient is sedated, the anesthesiologist will insert a tube into the lungs. This is done so that the breathing can be helped with a ventilator. The anesthesiologist will keep checking the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and blood oxygen level during the surgery.
The skin at the surgical site will be cleaned with a sterile (antiseptic) solution.
The doctor will make a cut (incision) just under the ribs on both sides of the belly.
The doctor will carefully separate the diseased or the injured liver from the nearby organs and structures.
The attached arteries and veins are then clamped to stop the blood flow into the diseased liver.
The diseased liver will be cut off from the blood vessels and then removed.
The surgeon will check the donor liver before implanting it into the body.
The donor's liver is placed in the patient's body.
The incision will then be closed with sutures or surgical staples.
In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Liver Transplant Surgery - Understanding The Procedure!

The symptoms caused due to herniated disc can be very severe and can also cause a bit of disability. The disc of the spine is like a cushion and separates the set of bones on the backside. The discs are shock absorbers of the spine and are mainly composed of 2 parts, a soft jelly centre called the nucleus and a tough outer covering called the annulus.

Effects of Herniated Disk
A herniated or cracked disc is a severe condition and it seems to happen most commonly in the lower back.  It happens when a fraction of the soft centre gets pushed through the destabilized area due to degeneration, trauma or by putting pressure on the spinal cord. 

Nerves are located precisely at the back of every disc and are responsible for controlling everything in our body. While a disc gets herniated, the external covering of the disc tears and creates a bulge. The soft jelly gets shifted from the centre of the disk to the region where the damage has occurred on the disc. Most commonly, the bulge occurs in areas where the nerve is located and it causes strain on the affected nerve. It has been observed that individuals do not feel any painful sensations even if their disc gets damaged.

When is Surgery Recommended for Herniated Disc?
Surgery for herniated disc is recommended only after options like steroid injections, pain relievers, exercise and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs do not work. If the pain persists even after these options, then it becomes important to go for surgery. There are certain risks involved in this surgery like infection, bleeding or nerve damage. 

There are chances that the disc may get ruptured again if it is not removed. If you are a patient suffering from degenerative disc disease, then there are chances that problem occurs in other discs. It is very important that a patient maintains healthy weight to prevent any further complications.

The main factor that increases the risk of herniated disc is excess body weight, which causes a lot of stress on the lower back. A few people become heir to a tendency of developing this condition. Even individuals with physically demanding jobs are prone to this condition. 

Activities like bending sideways, pushing, twisting, repetitive lifting can increase the risk of a herniated disk. At times, emergency surgery is also required to avoid paralysis in a patient.

Herniated Disc - What are the Risks Involved in it?

Fibroid tumour is the abnormal cell growth in the uterus and they are mostly benign. Fibroids usually affect women in the age bracket of 30 - 40. Fibroid tumours are of three types, depending on their location:

Submucosal fibroids: The tumour develops under the lining of the uterus
Intramural fibroids: The growth is found amongst the muscles in the wall of the uterus
Subserosal fibroids: The growth develops on the wall of the uterus right in the pelvic cavity
Causes behind it
The exact cause of fibroids in not known clearly. But certain factors have been discovered that might influence their formation. These factors include:

Hormones: Progesterone and estrogen are the hormones responsible for recreating the uterine lining during every menstrual cycle. These hormones might trigger the formation of tumour.
Family history: If any member in your family; your mother, grandmother or sister has/had fibroids in their uterus, you may also develop it.
Pregnancy: Your body produces excessive progesterone and estrogen when you are pregnant, which may cause an increase in the size of a pre-existing small fibroid. Myomectomy can be done by giving incision on the abdomen or by laparoscopy depending on the size and location of the fibroids.
Signs You are suffering from it

Heavy bleeding along with blood clots during or between your periods
Lower back or pelvic pain
Elevated menstrual cramping
Frequent urination
Pain during sex
Longer than normal periods
Bloating or pressure in lower abdomen
Enlargement or swelling of the abdomen
How it can be treated?
Your doctor will formulate the right treatment depending on your age, the mass of the fibroids and your overall health. Your doctor may choose a combination of treatment to cure your fibroids, and they include:

Medication: Gonadotropin releasing hormones (GnRH) agonists, birth control pills and ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory medicine) are prescribed. GnRH agonists reduce the level of progesterone and estrogen in your uterus.
Surgery: Myomectomy and hysterectomy are two common surgical procedures to treat fibroids. Myomectomy is performed by removing the fibroids only by making an incision on the abdomen. But hysterectomy completely removes the uterus. The latter is reserved for serious cases.
Non-invasive surgery: Forced ultrasound surgery, myolysis (shrinking fibroids with laser or electric current), cryomyolysis (fibroids are frozen) and endometrial ablation (an instrument uses heat, hot water, microwaves or electric current to destroy fibroids) are some non-invasive surgical procedures.

Fibroid Tumours - 8 Signs You are Suffering From it

Our spinal disk resembles a jelly donut, wherein the softer insides are protected by the hard exterior. Sometimes, as a result of some injury or an accident the jelly slips out, leading to an extremely painful condition which in medical parlance is known as herniated disc. The pain that you are subjected to, during herniated disc, occurs as the nerves nearby are damaged due to the concussion. Apart from pain, herniated disc is preceded by other symptoms, some of them are:

1. Pain in the arm or the leg
Depending on which part of the body you have suffered the herniated disc, in the neck or in your lower back, this condition is succeeded by intense pain either near the buttocks or near the shoulders. It goes without saying that this pain increases sharply with movement.

2. Numbness
That part of the body where the nerves are damaged due to herniated disc often becomes numb and has no sensation whatsoever.

3. Weakness
Due to herniated disc, the muscles become weak that considerably impairs and curbs mobility.

However, there are various ways by which you can prevent a herniated disc. Some of them are-

1. Exercise
Exercise in any form and even for a short while yields several benefits. Your body invariably gains momentum and agility. If you exercise daily, your spine becomes more stable and strong, thereby preventing a possible herniated disc.

2. Maintaining the right and good posture
A lot depends on the way you sit and walk, in fact more than you can imagine. If you sit badly, it exerts a pressure on the spine and the discs. Subsequently, a good posture does the very reverse and curbs chances of a herniated disc in the future.

3. Keep a tab on the weight
It is always healthy to maintain the right weight, the one that keeps you away from the onset of various diseases. If you are overweight, it puts more pressure on the spine disk, thereby increasing the risk of developing a herniated disc.

Tips to Prevent Herniated Discs

In case you have a diseased uterus, which makes you infertile, you can undergo a procedure known as uterus transplant or uterine transplant to get pregnant. In the process of sexual reproduction, a diseased uterus does not allow embryonic implantation. This factor is referred to as uterine factor infertility or UFI. As a result, you will not be able to get pregnant.

Who requires a uterus transplant?
This procedure involves women who have UFI and women who had their uterus removed by hysterectomy. Women who have a damaged uterus on account of an injury or infection, which does not function anymore, can also undergo a uterus transplant procedure. Women from the age of 21 to 45 are eligible for this procedure. Many women are born without having a uterus. This condition is called Mayer-Rokitansky-K ster-Hauser syndrome.

Procedure
Uterus transplantation begins with undertaking a uterus retrieval surgery on the uterus donor. The uterus, which is recovered has to be stored and transported to the location of the patient undergoing the transplant. An ischemic tolerance may last over 24 hours. Three major surgeries have to be carried out with the recipient. Firstly, a transplantation surgery is required in which the donor s uterus gets transplanted. In case pregnancy develops, a caesarean section surgery has to be performed. The patient is given immune suppressive therapy. After childbirth, a hysterectomy is done in order to terminate the immune suppressive therapy.

Will the women be able to get pregnant after having sex?
Women receiving a uterus transplant will not be capable of becoming pregnant without undergoing fertility treatments. The transplanted uterus is not connected with the fallopian tubes, which is the location of the normal fertilisation process. The women will require to carry out IVF or in vitro fertilisation to become pregnant after a uterus transplant. IVF is a process in which the eggs are removed from the ovaries and get fertilised in a laboratory. Then, they are implanted in the uterus. After undergoing the uterus transplant procedure, a woman has to wait for a period of one year. The uterus requires time for healing and after recovery, the embryo may be implanted for pregnancy. After giving birth successfully, a woman will be able to keep the transplanted uterus.

She has the option to get pregnant again. However, after giving birth twice, a hysterectomy must be carried out for the removal of the uterus. This is done so that the woman can stop using the immune suppressant drugs, which are associated with major risks. Uterus transplant is a relatively new technology. In October 2014, the first healthy baby was born to a woman who had undergone a uterus transplant. This surgery is kind of experimental in nature and is usually the last option for getting pregnant. 

Diseased Uterus - Can it be Replaced?

The incidence of breast cancer is increasing worldwide, especially in the western world due to a variety of factors like diet, genetics and lifestyle, including body weight. Other predominant factors are ovarian function and oestrogen exposure, pregnancy, and lactation. It is the second most common carcinoma in women and it occurs mostly after the age of 30. It s most commonly seen in the age group of 40-60. Even though there is so much of awareness about this cancer, there is a high incidence of this cancer going undetected.

This cancer is treatable if detected early. For this, we need to know its common symptoms, which are

Lump in breast i.e. presence of a hard mass in the breast with no defined margins
Bleeding from nipple
Nipple retraction
Redness and pain
If left undetected, cancer in the breasts can spread to the bones, liver and even the brain.

Homeopathic treatment
We all know that Homeopathy, a popular holistic system of medicine cures by using the principle of  Like cures like . Homeopathy relies on a specialised remedy based on the physical, psychological and emotional symptoms of a patient. This is the reason that self-medication fails abysmally in homoeopathy. The homoeopathic medicines for breast cancer in this article thus should be used just as a reference and you should consult a good homoeopath for a complete cure. Several proven homoeopathic remedies are available to treat symptoms of breast cancer like:

Conium Mac: It is an excellent cure for breast cancer, especially when the breasts are hard and tender. The breast becomes rock-hard and there is a stinging pain in this type of breast cancer which starts in the milk ducts and spreads to outer regions. This type of breast cancer is tackled by Conium Mac.
Baryta Carb: This homoeopathic drug is used when the breast is enlarged and inflamed. The mammary gland is also hard and stony plus sensitive to touch. The milk glands in this type of cancer become enlarged and tender. Blood from the nipple is another indication for use of Baryta carb.
Hydrastis Can: The patient has to swell of the mammary glands and complains of pain and tenderness. Her nipples are engorged, have cracks and a watery discharge.
Iodine: This homoeopathic remedy works mostly on the enlargement of the breasts which may be malignant or malign. In this type of cancer, the mucous membrane of the mammary glands as well as the breast tissue gets inflamed. The breast tissue becomes enlarged and hard and presents with nodes.
Phytolacca: A hard, irregular tumour with retracted nipples is the main indication for this homoeopathic remedy. A sore that extends from the breasts to the arms is another predominant feature.

Breast Cancer - Is Homeopathy Helpful In Treating It?

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