Growing a New Organ
A small biotech company is developing an artificial liver to help keep patients alive. What do you think of this new medical technology?
From Nick Mulcahy, Jenkintown, PA I saw your well-done piece in Fortune today about the liver assist device.
If you find yourself doing a follow-up piece on the device or
transplantation and related innovations, please contact the American Society
of Transplantation. As their PR group, we have a roster of experts in liver
transplantation as well as future research directions in transplantation.
(Visit a-s-t.org)
From Houston, TX This artificial liver idea is just wonder ful! Just look at the marvels of modern medicine. However, if a whole liver can be reproduced from a quarter of one, why not grow multiple livers from a transplant?
From Mark, Raleigh, NC This is a promising development. I am not currently on the liver transplant list, but I have a degenerative liver disease that will put me there eventually. Having the equivalent of a dialysis machine for the liver could extend my life.
I'll be commenting on this in my blog.
From Kevin, Philadelphia PA Although this is a wonderful idea, there are a lot of technical details that aren't discussed that may lead to the failure of this technology. To begin with, how often would a person have to go through a "treatment"? Once a week? Once a day? While extending the patients life, would it actually improve their quality of life? Also, there are serious problems and complications from kidney dialysis (which this type of technology is compared to).
The true holy grail is in the area of tissue engineering, however, many technologies are still in their infancy and require a lot more funding and research to complete. Imagine being able to grow a sustainable piece of liver tissue and have it "on the shelf" until needed.
From mag I think that would be just wonderful as my 18 month old nephew died from liver cancer. Also currently my 84 year old mother is battling liver cancer.
Because a full liver is grown from a segment only inside of a transplant recipients' body. But someday we will be able to grow a replacement liver from a biopsy-sized piece, so you get a new copy of your own liver back. Besides not requiring doners, this has the huge added advantage of not requiring anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life.