New use of blood cleaning device saves high-risk patients with liver failure

Severe acute liver failure (ALF), a rare but life-threatening illness, is associated with high death rates if patients don’t receive timely treatment or a liver transplant. Unlike the heart or the kidneys, there is no established mechanical device to replace the liver’s function. Now, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) researchers report that a device that removes toxins from the blood can also effectively provide a bridge to liver transplantation or buy time for a traumatically injured liver to heal, suggesting broader uses for the device than previously thought.
The researchers, present the largest series of cases in the United States in which the Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System has been used as temporary liver replacement for ALF.
MARS can be likened to a dialysis machine for the liver. It essentially “washes” a patient’s blood with a solution containing albumin – normally produced by healthy livers – to remove toxins such as bile acids, ammonia, bilirubin, copper, iron and phenols from the blood.
“We’ve found in the use of MARS that we’re able to get trauma patients with massive liver injury to recovery and, in patients who are deemed good transplant candidates, get them to transplant with excellent survivals,” says lead researcher, Steven I. Hanish, MD, associate professor of surgery at UM SOM and a liver transplant surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the device to clear the liver after overdoses and poisonings, and reduce the effects of brain swelling related to liver failure. However, it is not yet FDA-approved as a bridge to transplant.

University of Maryland School of Medicine http://tinyurl.com/ya32cuxm