The Liver - where it is, what is does

The liver is located on the right side of the abdomen just under the ribs. The liver has two main lobes, the right which is the largest, and the left lobe, The liver contains many small bile ducts. which are tiny channels that come together to form the left and right hepatic ducts, which exit the liver and join to form the hepatic duct which is outside the liver. The hepatic duct becomes the common bile duct, which connects to the gall bladder, passes through the pancreas and empties into the duodenum, the first part of the small intestines.

The liver, gallbladder and bile ducts are part of the human gastrointestinal (digestive) tract. The liver processes food into nutrients for energy and growth by the body. The liver also processes medications and alcohol and every substance that humans consume.

One of the important substances made by the liver is bile, which is needed to digest food. Bile is made by the liver cells, and travels to many tiny bile ducts throughout the liver. When food enters the stomach, the gallbladder and bile ducts contract (squeeze) and send bile into the first portion of the small intestine, where the bile helps to digest food, especially fat and protein.

Hepatobiliary cancers can start in liver cells (hepatocellular carcinoma), bile duct cells (cholangiocarcinoma) or cells in the gallbladder (gallbladder cancer).

Figure 1.

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The Liver - where it is, what is does