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Updated: Aug 24, 2026
Heterotopic Auxiliary Rat Liver Transplantation With Flow-regulated Portal Vein Arterialization in Acute Hepatic Failure
Published on: September 13, 2014
Prospective, randomized, multicenter, controlled trial of a bioartificial liver in treating acute liver failure
Achilles A Demetriou1, Robert S Brown, Ronald W Busuttil
1Liver Support Unit, Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Suite 8215, North Tower, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA. demetriou@csmc.edu
Objective:
The HepatAssist liver support system is an extracorporeal porcine hepatocyte-based bioartificial liver (BAL). The safety and efficacy of the BAL were evaluated in a prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter trial in patients with severe acute liver failure.
Summary Background Data:
In experimental animals with acute liver failure, we demonstrated beneficial effects of the BAL. Similarly, Phase I trials of the BAL in acute liver failure patients yielded promising results.
Methods:
A total of 171 patients (86 control and 85 BAL) were enrolled. Patients with fulminant/subfulminant hepatic failure and primary nonfunction following liver transplantation were included. Data were analyzed with and without accounting for the following confounding factors: liver transplantation, time to transplant, disease etiology, disease severity, and treatment site.
Results:
For the entire patient population, survival at 30 days was 71% for BAL versus 62% for control (P = 0.26). After exclusion of primary nonfunction patients, survival was 73% for BAL versus 59% for control (n = 147; P = 0.12). When survival was analyzed accounting for confounding factors, in the entire patient population, there was no difference between the 2 groups (risk ratio = 0.67; P = 0.13). However, survival in fulminant/subfulminant hepatic failure patients was significantly higher in the BAL compared with the control group (risk ratio = 0.56; P = 0.048).
Conclusions:
This is the first prospective, randomized, controlled trial of an extracorporeal liver support system, demonstrating safety and improved survival in patients with fulminant/subfulminant hepatic failure.
