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I read an article in the RN Journal about artificial systems that are used to replace the livers functions for patients who are awaiting a live transplant. In 2002 more than 17,000 patients were in need of a liver transplant. Of those 17,000 approximately 5,000 received a transplant. The gap in the amount of receiving and needing patients has been the main driving force behind the efforts to find ways to prolong the lives of awaiting patients. The main problem and obstacle of developing a way to replace the functions of liver is duplicating the many important functions the liver is responsible for. Metabolism, filtration, detoxification and synthesis have been the big obstacl