ABSTRACT Bio-Artificial Liver (BAL) devices have demonstrated potential as a temporary therapy for patients suffering from acute liver failure [1,2]. Of the variety of designs that exist [3], two BAL designs that have been tested...
moreABSTRACT Bio-Artificial Liver (BAL) devices have demonstrated potential as a temporary therapy for patients suffering from acute liver failure [1,2]. Of the variety of designs that exist [3], two BAL designs that have been tested clinically are the Hepatassist BAL [4] and the ELAD (Extra Corporeal Liver Assist Device) BAL [5]. To enable off the shelf availability of these devices, it would be helpful if they could be cryopreserved for safe low temperature storage. The aim of this study is to use finite element modeling to predict a suitable cryopreservation protocol for the Hepatassist BAL. Hepatassist incorporates a hollow fiber configuration in which nutrients (including oxygen) are supplied through the fibers to the hepatocytes surrounding the fibers [4]. In this study, we simulate the effects of different cryopreservation protocols in the presence of dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), a cryoprotective solution or cryoprotectant, on its integrity.