title: [Bioartificial liver].
abstract: Fulminant hepatic failure remains without satisfactory medical treatment and with a mortality rate of nearly 90%. Liver transplantation is the only chance to save these patients. However, there is a shortage of donors and many patients die before transplantation. It is thus necessary to develop a liver support system to help maintain patients alive, neurologically intact until an organ becomes available for transplantation, or ideally until hepatic regeneration. Early systems had only a depuration function, but now these systems include hepatocytes to replace most hepatic functions.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Cuidados Intensivos Gastrenterológícos, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisboa.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reis
mesh_terms: D017690:Cell Transplantation; D005544:Forecasting; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology; D019164:Liver, Artificial / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends
vernacular_title: Fígado bioartificial.