What is an artificial liver?

Artificial liver is a temporary or partial replacement of liver function by external mechanical, chemical or biological devices, thus assisting in the treatment of liver dysfunction or related diseases. The biggest difference between artificial liver and general internal medicine is that the former mainly treats diseases through "functional substitution", while the latter mainly treats diseases through "functional enhancement". At present, there is no unified classification of artificial liver, which is traditionally divided into abiotic artificial liver, bioartificial liver and combined bioartificial liver according to its composition and properties. Plasma exchange is a kind of abiotic artificial liver, which is called "mixed artificial liver" because fresh frozen plasma is needed in treatment. Plasma exchange is a commonly used artificial liver technique. The classic method is to draw out the patient's blood, separate the plasma and cellular components, discard the plasma, and return the cellular components, supplemented albumin, plasma and balanced solution to the body to achieve the therapeutic purpose of eliminating pathogenic media. Modern technology can not only separate whole plasma, but also separate one or several plasma components, thus selectively or specifically removing pathogenic media, further improving curative effect and reducing complications. In the early days, the commonly used plasma separation method was a closed centrifugal plasma separator. At the end of 1970s, a membrane plasma separation device appeared, in which whole blood directly filtered out plasma through the membrane, which made plasma exchange more technically simplified and practical. At present, membrane separation method is often used for treatment. Membrane plasma separator is a hollow fiber or flat filter made of polymer. This hole allows plasma to be filtered, but it can block all cellular components.