Clicical Experience with artificial liver support system in the treatment of liver failure

Artifcial liver support system is a possible method of maintaining hepatic function in patients with liver failure.Nonbiological artificial liver support systems(NBASS),such as plasma exchange and hemoperfusion,have already been adopted to treat patients with acute and chronic hepatic failure and gotten better results.These sys_ tems are developed to remove toxic substances from the blood and improve the metabolic and synthetic functions that are also essentialfor the maintenance of life.Because the NBASS can not replace metabolic tunctions,biological artificial liver systems(BASS) or hybrid artificial liver with biological components have been studied by many re_ searchers.We provide a historic review of artifcial liver support system and the open problems .