ABSTRACT
The liver is the largest organ in the body, weighing approximately 1.5 kg in the adult human. As a proportion of total body weight, it is relatively larger in infants. The liver has a large metabolic capacity and plays a central role in whole-body energy metabolism. This large reserve of metabolic capacity ensures that even when two-thirds of the tissue is removed or damaged there may be little loss of overall metabolic function; that is, it can still carry out essential metabolic functions of plasma protein synthesis and carbohydrate and fat metabolism. It also means that mild liver disease may present with no symptoms other than a propensity to tiredness and general malaise with diagnosis arrived at only after phlebotomy and blood analysis by liver function tests.
