Artificial Organs -Solving the Organ Transplant Crises
Artificial Liver
How an Artificial Liver works
Artificial liver is composed of both synthetic and live liver cells to regulate blood flows like a normal liver. The purpose of an artificial liver is to temporary keep a patient alive until a donor comes or to unburden the liver so that it can heal over time (A7). The process of implanting an artificial liver is by pulling blood from patient's body and pass through four tubes that are coated with live liver cells. The tubes help the blood to filter and be treated. The blood goes back into the body and repeats (A8).
Did you Know?
Starting from 2012, Korea launched a project which is to develop an artificial liver based on a pig's liver. The major cause of death for Koreans who are in 40s or 50s is liver cancer. Due to the poor rate of organ donation in Korea, scientists had to come up with a solution. The team developed the liver that works similar to an actual liver but it was based on a pig liver. The new artificial liver is free of retrovirus which stops any immune rejection even after a successful surgery. In December 27, 2016, Korean surgeons successfully developed a liver that was based on a pig liver (A9). In United States, Mayo clinic is also developing an artificial liver with pig cells (A10).
