Artificial Liver Trials Show Progress

Originally Published MDDI October 2002

R&D DIGEST

Efforts to develop an artificial human liver are promising, according to Robert Bartlett, MD, head of the extracorporeal life support team at the University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor). It has been four years since the first U.S. clinical trial of an experimental artificial liver system began, and Bartlett says he is encouraged by the results thus far.

According to Bartlett, 20 patients have used the device in a phase I trial. Six patients went on to receive a transplant, and three of those are still alive. Two other patients recovered liver function without needing a transplant. Bartlett recently described the study results during a presentation at the Fourth International Symposium on Albumin Dialysis in Liver Disease in Rostock, Germany.

The researcher says he is also encouraged by results from a study being conducted in Germany, where the system was invented, and from three other U.S. hospitals that are now testing it.

The system is based on albumin dialysis, which uses special filters and proteins to remove toxic substances from the blood while beneficial compounds remain.

The University of Michigan Health System is preparing to participate in a multicenter, randomized controlled trial of the system. The trial will compare albumin dialysis with standard medical treatment in chronic liver failure patients who are in hepatic comas, which is a neurological state caused by liver failure. The trial is expected to begin early in 2003. It will use the Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System, or MARS, made by the Teraklin AG (Rostock, Germany).

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