Anchor: For the first time in Asia, a local hospital has succeeded in treating a patient using a temporary bio-artificial liver. The new technology helps buy time between finding a donor and receiving a liver transplant. 
Our Park Jong-hong has more on the medical breakthrough in South Korea.  
 
Report: Last month in South Korea, 54-year old Cha Myung-gook got a new lease on life thanks to a bio-artificial liver. 
 
The bio-mechanical organ, dubbed Life Liver, saved Cha who fell unconscious when the toxic ammonia in his body suddenly surged due to acute hepatitis. 
 
[Sound bite: Cha Myung-gook, patient treated with bio-artificial liver (Korean)]
"How good is it that a dying person can be saved. With such good technology, it would be good to revive someone who can live."
 
On October 13, Samsung Medical Center performed an 11 hour-surgery using the locally-developed bio-artificial liver. Cha became stable after 3 days and received a liver transplant from an organ donor. He was discharged on November 5 once regaining his health.
 
The case marks the first time in Asia that a bio-artificial liver helped secure the time between finding a donor and receiving a liver transplant.
 
According to Professor Lee Suk-goo at the Samsung Medical Center’s Organ Transplant Center, a patient can survive up to a week when connected to the bio-artificial liver for about 12 hours.
 
[Sound bite: Dr. Lee Suk-goo, Organ Transplant Center, Samsung Medical Center (Korean)]
“The reality is that patients die while waiting for the liver transplant. The bio-artificial liver buys them time until their transplant surgery.”
 
The bio-artificial liver uses liver cells extracted from sterilized pigs. When the cells are combined with the patient’s blood and circulated using the machine, they eliminate the toxic elements in the body while supplying the nourishment needed to sustain life. The key aspect of the technology is that it wraps the pig cells in a capsule so they aren't rejected and cause problems in the immune system. 

When the bio-artificial liver is commercialized, it could mean more lives will be saved among some 3,000 patients in the nation on the liver transplant waiting list.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.