title: Artificial liver support devices for fulminant liver failure.
abstract: Artificial liver-support devices attempt to bridge patients with fulminant hepatic failure until either a suitable liver allograft is obtained for transplantation or the patient's own liver regenerates sufficiently to resume normal function. It is thought that toxins contribute to the clinical picture of fulminant hepatic failure. The earliest reports of successful toxin removal were blood- and plasma-exchange transfusions. Given these successful case reports, mechanical liver-support devices were designed to filter toxins. These mechanical devices used hemodialysis, charcoal hemoperfusion, hemoperfusion through cation-exchange resins, hemodiabsorption, and combinations of all of these techniques as in the MARS liver-support device. Despite promising case reports and small series, no controlled studies of mechanical devices have ever showed a long-term survival benefit. Thus, the removal of presumed toxins seems to be insufficient to support patients with fulminant hepatic failure, and the biologic function of the liver must also be replaced. Attempts at replacing the biologic function have included extracorporeal liver perfusion, cross-circulation, and hepatocyte transplantation. Current technologies have combined mechanical and biologic support systems in hybrid liver-support devices. The mechanical component of these hybrid devices serves both to remove toxins and to create a barrier between the patient's serum and the biologic component of the liver-support device. The biologic component of these hybrid liver support devices may consist of liver slices, granulated liver, or hepatocytes from low-grade tumor cells or porcine hepatocytes. These biologic components are housed within bioreactors. Currently the most clinically studied bioreactors are those that use capillary hollow-fiber systems. Both the bioartificial liver by Demetrious and the extracorporeal liver-assist device by Sussman and Kelly are in clinical trials. Although the trials seemed to have yielded good survival data when the devices are used as a bridge to transplantation, the type and degree of liver support provided by these devices remains uncertain. Thus, despite decades of great progress in the field of artificial liver support, no one technique alone yet provides sufficient liver support. A hybrid system seems to be the best option at present. Still to be determined is the best tissue to use, how much liver tissue should be used, and the optimal design of the bioreactor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sechser
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Osorio
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freise
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Osorio
mesh_terms: D017690:Cell Transplantation; D002606:Charcoal; D006440:Hemofiltration; D006464:Hemoperfusion; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D019164:Liver, Artificial / Q000639:trends; D011379:Prognosis; D012116:Resins, Plant
chemical_list: D012116:Resins, Plant; D002606:Charcoal