The Capital Health Center for Digestive Health is participating in study testing the benefit of an artificial liver device.
Dr. Santiago Munoz of Captital Health’s Center for Liver Disease is researching the benefit of ELAD bio-artificial cellular therapy in patients with acute liver failure.
ELAD is a bio-artificial liver therapy that is designed to allow the patient’s own liver to regenerate to a healthier state or stabilize health until a transplant is possible.
“The ELAD system is intended to help patients restore their own liver function and, in some cases, avoid increased demand for organ transplant, an option hampered by a shortage of donor organs and post-operative complications,” Dr. Munoz said in a statement.
Capital Health is involved in the Phase 3 clinical study, focused on investigating the benefits and risks of ELAD in acute liver failure patients with alcohol-induced liver decompensation.
Acute liver failure affecting at least 30,000 patients in the United States every year. Except for liver transplant, standard-of-care treatment for acute liver failure focuses on management of disease complications and does not restore liver function.
In previous trials, ELAD had shown trends indicating the potential to increase survival rates in patients with acute liver failure. Prior to the initiation of the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial program, more than 150 subjects received ELAD therapy in seven clinical trials.
Enrollment is now open for this phase of the ELAD trial at Capital Health Center for Liver Disease.
More information is online at clinicaltrials.gov.
