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The Liver
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The liver is composed of a spongy mass. The liver is essential to life because it deals with digestion, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, glycogen, vitamins, blood-clotting, waste, blood volume, and old blood cells.
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Artificial Liver
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The Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device, or ELAD, is the first artificial liver to use cells from humans. However, the ELAD is only used to sustain patients awaiting a liver transplant.
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The ELAD uses a chamber system in which each of the two chambers is filled with cartridges that contain liver cells. Similar to a dialysis machine, when the device is connected via blood vessels, the blood is filtered, remixed, and returned to the body. Because the liver is so complex, it is unlikely a person can survive on an artificial liver.
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