Liver dialysis

Liver dialysis or artificial extracorporeal liver support is a detoxification treatment for liver failure and has shown promise for patients with hepatorenal syndrome. It is similar to hemodialysis and based on the same principles.

Related Topics:
Liver failure - Hepatorenal syndrome - Hemodialysis

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An extracorporeal liver support system has to provide the main functions of the liver: detoxification, synthesis and regulation. The understanding that the critical issue of the clinical syndrome in liver failure is the accumulation of toxins not cleared by the failing liver led to the development of artificial filtration and adsorption devices. Based on this hypothesis, the removal of lipophylic, albumin-bound substances such as bilirubin, bile acids, metabolites of aromatic amino acids, medium-chain fatty acids and cytokines should be beneficial to the clinical course of a patient in liver failure. Artificial detoxification devices currently under clinical evaluation include the Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System (MARS), Single Pass Albumin Dialysis (SPAD) and the Prometheus system.

Related Topics:
Liver failure - Liver - Bilirubin - Bile acids - Aromatic amino acids - Fatty acids - Cytokines

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Hemodialysis is used for renal failure and primarily removes water soluble toxins. It is of limited use in liver failure because it does not remove toxins bound to albumin.

Related Topics:
Renal failure - Liver - Albumin

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