Researchers expect that many patients will be drawn from the liver transplant waiting list. All patients will have been diagnosed with at least stage 2 acute hepatic encephalopathy based on a scale of 0 to 4 wherein 0 equals normal and 4 equals coma. These may include gastrointestinal bleeding or bleeding internally, infection, dehydration, not taking medication properly or a high protein diet. Once we correct those, we ll treat with either lactulose or liver dialysis. Patients are attached to the unit via a catheter inserted into the femoral vein in the groin or into a neck vein.
Blood flows into the dialyzer for cleansing and is then returned to the patient via that vein.
Each treatment lasts four to six hours. So far, the anecdotal evidence for this indication looks pretty impressive. The trial will continue for at least one year or until we enroll enough patients. Michael W. Fried, Jeffrey H. Fair and Steven L. Zacks. Each year, more than 25 million people in the United States are afflicted with liver and gallbladder disease and more than 26,000 die of chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis.