Comparison of Open Albumin Dialysis (OPAL) With Prometheus Fractionated Plasma Separation and Adsorption (FPSA) and Standard Medical Treatment for Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure.

Abstract

Background: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with high short-term mortality of up to 40%. Albumin dialysis is a therapeutic option that can be used to bridge patients with ACLF to liver transplantation or recovery.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted to determine the effectiveness and adverse effects of open albumin dialysis (OPAL) by comparing the biochemical and clinical variables of model for end-stage liver disease (MELD)-matched ACLF patients who received one of three treatments: OPAL plus standard medical treatment (SMT; 22 patients), Prometheus dialysis fractionated plasma separation and adsorption (FPSA) plus SMT (41 patients), or hemodialysis plus SMT (24 patients) at the University Hospital Essen.

Results: OPAL treatment significantly reduced liver function tests such as bilirubin (p = 0.0001) and creatinine levels (p = 0.049). Therefore, OPAL therapy significantly reduced the MELD score (p = 0.001) and the Chronic Liver Failure Consortium (CLIF-C) ACLF (p = 0.0005) score. In both extracorporeal liver support groups, the decrease in MELD score was significantly stronger than that achieved with SMT (OPAL vs. SMT, p = 0.002; Prometheus vs. SMT, p = 0.0001; OPAL vs. Prometheus p = 0.90). In comparison to the SMT group, survival rates after 14 and 30 days were significantly higher in the Prometheus group (p = 0.0008 and 0.03) and tended to be better in the OPAL group, although statistical significance was not reached (p = 0.06 and p = 0.11).

Conclusions: Our analysis revealed OPAL is an efficient method of albumin dialysis yielding a reduction of bilirubin and creatinine levels and improving clinical scoring in ACLF patients. OPAL as well as Prometheus were associated with a stronger reduction of relevant biochemical variables of liver function and amelioration in clinical scoring in comparison to SMT. However, it should be considered that patients from the SMT group were older and experienced progressive ACLF with high mortality risks compared to the patients from the OPAL and Prometheus groups. Thus, when interpreting the study results, several limitations including small sample size and heterogeneity of the treatment groups due to the lack of randomization should be taken into account.