ABSTRACT
Liver transplantation has been established as a curative treatment for end-stage adult and pediatric liver disease [Starlz et al., 1989], and over recent years, many innovative advances have been made in transplantation surgery. Unfortunately, a fundamental problem of liver transplantation has been severe donor shortage, and no clinical therapeutic bridge exists to abate the progression of liver failure (Table 20.1). As the demand for liver transplantation surgery increases, still fewer than 3500 donors are available annually for the approximately 25,000 patients who die from chronic liver disease [National Vital Statistic System, 1991, 1992]. Currently, cadaveric and living-related donors are the only available sources. Xenograft [Starzl et al., 1993] and split liver transplantation [Merio and Campbell, 1991] are under experimental and clinical evaluation. The research effort to engineer a functional liver tissue has been vigorous, since tissue engineering of the liver offers, in theory, an efficient use of limited organ availability.
