Patient responds to new liver treatment

Chinese scientists have developed a bioartificial liver system that can prolong the survival of pigs with acute liver failure, indicating a promising clinical application for humans facing a comparable life-threatening illness.

In the first human application of the device, a woman in her 60s who has had hepatitis B for more than four decades and was recently diagnosed with liver failure received the treatment earlier this month.

"After using the bioartificial liver device, her liver function recovered well and she is no longer critical," said Hui Lijian, head of a group of scientists at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, a branch of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.