Treatment of acute liver failure: hybrid liver support - A critical overview

Hybrid liver support systems, which combine living cells of the liver in an extracorporeal circuit, have entered the first clinical trials in patients with acute liver failure. The goal of the different developments is to pro vide within a few hours a biological support of the patient's failing liver . Different technical solutions can be found to provide a sufficient functi onal mass of liver cells to the patient. Within this article, the biotechni cal and clinical backgrounds of these developments are discussed, initial c linical results are summarized and an evaluation of this method as experime ntal treatment is given.