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FDA Testing Artificial Liver
NIckGorton writes "Research is now underway in the US to seek FDA approval for an artificial liver. The Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device (ELAD) filters blood through a cartridge containing immortalized human liver cells with fiber tubes running through that allow the patients blood to interact with them. This allows the matrix of liver cells to perform both the metabolic (cleansing the blood of toxins/waste) and synthetic (producing albumin, clotting factors, etc) functions of the patient's failing liver. A small trial in China showed a statistically and clinically significant difference in 30 day survival with ELAD."
Obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o
"Don't worry, there's nobody who's had their Liver taken out by Us who's survived."
I was feeling more like fava beans, and maybe a nice chianti.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
I'll drink to that!
A small trial in China showed a statistically and clinically significant difference in 30 day survival with ELAD.
So more people with this ELAD liver replacement were alive at 30 days than a control group, who presumably had their livers removed and replaced with nothing...
I think I'd just ask if they could immortalize all of my body's cells.
Side effects may include nausea, dizziness, dry mouth, and the tendency to transform into a zombie when exposed to the light of the full moon.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"