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I immediately imagined people with much larger liver masses in their necks and got to wondering how safe it would be. Is there risk of impingement on things lik
by smeej 3y ago
I immediately imagined people with much larger liver masses in their necks and got to wondering how safe it would be. Is there risk of impingement on things like arteries or the spine were they to continue to grow? What's the margin of safety between how big they're expected to get and how big would be dangerous? (I know nearly nothing about any of the systems involved, so I won't be surprised if these end up being comically naïve questions. I just still wonder!)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- engineer_22 3y agoThey are using lymph nodes in the abdomen. Worth-while to consider your questions though.
- smeej 3y agoOh you're right. I misread the part about a tube in the throat and thought they were ending up in the neck. Though, with lymph nodes as connected as they are, why do the liver cells stay where they're planted, so to speak?
- tialaramex 3y agoAlmost all human cells are programmed to remain in a specific place and to commit suicide if they discover they're misplaced. This way when things go a little bit wrong and a few cells are somewhere they shouldn't they just die, and there are more where those came from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoikis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoikis The lymph system's own cells deliberately lack this programming, they're part of the immune system and are supposed to wander about on their own. But these liver cells presumably don't think they're actually lymph cells, so they aren't entitled to just wander off.