Failure of the liver - a vital organ that performs a variety of tasks including filtering out toxins from the bloodstream - will lead other organs to fail, and an irreversible failure will result in death unless a transplant can be performed.
The bio-artificial liver system developed by United States firm Excorp uses pig liver cells inserted into a cartridge to perform the functions of the liver.
Blood is diverted from a vein in the patient's neck into the machine containing the cartridge, and then passes back into the body through the same point, according to Excorp Medical's chief executive, Dr Daniel Miller.
The device, which will undergo its final clinical tests in Hong Kong, works in a similar way to kidney dialysis.
But dialysis operates by filtration, whereas the bio-artificial liver works by metabolising harmful substances that accumulate in a patient's blood due to diminished liver capacity.
'The liver has remarkable regenerative powers on its own, given enough time,' Miller said.