Liver failure is a potentially life-threatening condition whereby a previously healthy liver progressively fails over a short period of time. It may be the results of hepatitis B or C, drug/toxin overdose, Wilson's disease (in children) and fatty liver of pregnancy. It commonly runs a rapid course with the patient feeling unwell and progressing to a comatose state within a matter of days. This can also happen in a less acute setting whereby a patient has longstanding liver cirrhosis and an infection or assault on the liver such as toxic medication causes the patient to go into liver failure.

The Liver Intensive Care Unit (LICU) at Gleneagles Hospital is the first in Asia to have in place a team of multidisciplinary professionals with expertise and extensive experience in liver diseases. It comprises four intensive care beds equipped with sophisticated diagnostic tools, monitoring devices, ventilators, kidney dialysis and liver dialysis machines and intra-cranial monitoring devices in addition to the normal equipment in a general intensive care unit.

The nurses have been trained in King's College Hospital, London in the specialist field of nursing a patient in liver failure. There is a collaboration between the King's College Hospital Liver Intensive Care Unit (which is one of the premier liver intensive care units in the world) and the ACLDT. This allows up to date technology transfer and information about new and improved procedures or treatment for the patient in liver failure.

Liver transplantation has revolutionized the care of patients with acute liver failure. In the past without a transplant, the majority (80%) of patients in liver failure would die. The LICU at Gleneagles Hospital has the expertise equipment and personnel to support and treat a patient in liver failure while waiting for a liver transplant.

Patients with liver failure can be transported by emergency evacuation to the LICU to facilitate immediate treatment of this potentially fatal condition. The staff of the ACLDT are on standby 24 hours a day to assist with arrangements for emergency transfer.

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Liver ICU


MARS in use


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