Fresenius, Gambro Liver Machines Don’t Prolong Lives
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Liver dialysis machines sold by Fresenius Medical Care AG and Gambro AB, designed to carry out the organ’s function until a transplant, failed to prolong lives in two studies that may alter the way cirrhosis is treated.
The machines, dubbed Prometheus and Mars, surprisingly didn’t help patients with severe liver failure to live longer, according to the studies presented today at the International Liver Congress in Vienna. The devices, at a cost of about 10,000 pounds ($15,448) for a series of three dialysis treatments, are used to help patients’ bodies detoxify until their organs can recover or a donor can be found.