Each year, 6 000 patients with no prior history of liver disease develop acute liver failure due to a variety of reasons. In addition, patients with underlying stable chronic disease can get an acute clinical deterioration.
Liver failure is in some ways similar to kidney failure; it results in accumulation of toxins in the bloodstream. But the nature of toxins differs significantly between the two conditions.
In kidney failure, the toxins retained in the patient’s body are generally water soluble, and standard dialysis techniques such as conventional hemodialysis and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) are effective in removing them. In liver failure, only some of the toxins accumulated are water soluble, while most are bound to blood proteins, especially to one called albumin.
Because of the need to remove both water-soluble and albumin-bound toxins, liver dialysis systems must differ significantly from kidney dialysis systems.
Gambro’s Hepatic Care is a liver support therapy, known as Molecular Adsorbents Recirculating System (MARS®), and uses albumin as primary agent for removing toxins.