Abstract: Objective To report the experience of application of artificial liver support system(ALSS) during perioperative period of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).Methods The clinical data of 4 patients received ALSS treament of totally 21 patients who underwent liver transplantation consecutively between July 2001 and May 2004 were analyzed retrospectively. Results Decreased serum bilirubin, improved hepatic enecphalopathy and ascites were achieved in all 4 cases afrer ALSS. Three of them survived 6 to 20 months after OLT. Two of them had excellent quality of life for more than 12 months. One patient died ten days after OLT. Conclusion The timely application of ALSS provides necessary and valuable support to patients during perioperative period of OLT. Preoperation of ALSS treatment should be applied actively as important component of preparation for OLT,and post operative ALSS treatment can give assistance to resume normal funcdtion of allograft.

Key words: Artificial liver