Sixty seconds on . . . liver dialysis

Does that even exist?It’s under investigation. After the first clinical trial in humans, researchers have suggested that a novel liver dialysis device called Dialive may be able to resolve more liver failure cases—and significantly faster—than current standard care.How does it work?The device contains a renal dialysis machine plus a dual filtration system to allow for the ultrafiltration of albumin and cytokines and absorption of pathogen associated molecular patterns and damage associated molecular patterns.Sounds impressiveIt is when you consider that currently the only treatment for acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), which leads to more than a million deaths in Europe each year, is liver transplantation. ACLF, which was only defined as a distinct clinical entity 2001, can cause liver function to suddenly decline and carries a high risk of mortality. The UK sees around 15 000 ACLF patients annually, but only a small fraction will have access to the 1000 or so…
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