More than 25 million people in the United States suffer from liver disease, and more than 43,000 of those people die every year. The only remedy for advanced disease is a liver transplant. The liver, an essential organ, is located behind the lower ribs on the right side of the chest. The largest organ in the body, it processes food and most medications. As the blood leaves the stomach and intestines, it passes through the liver, picking up and carrying nutrients throughout the body. The liver also cleanses the blood, discharges waste products, maintains hormone balance, produces immune factors, stores iron, synthesizes blood clotting factors, and manufactures bile which is stored in the gallbladder and excreted into the intestines to aid digestion. Howard J. Worman, M.D. at Columbia University, lists more than 30 different liver diseases on a World Wide Web page entitled "Diseases of the Liver." Perhaps...