Experience of Treatments of Amanita phalloides-Induced Fulminant Liver Failure with Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System and Therapeutic Plasma Exchange.

Ingestion of the mushroom containing Amanita phalloides can induce fulminant liver failure and death. There are no specific antidotes. Blood purifications, such as molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) and therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), are potential therapies. However, the extent to which these technologies avert the deleterious effects of amatoxins remains controversial; the optimal intensity, duration, and initiation criteria have not been determined yet. This study aimed to retrospectively observe the effects of MARS and TPE on nine patients with A. phalloides-induced fulminant liver failure. The survival rate for the nine patients was 66.7%. Both TPE and MARS might remove toxins and improve liver functions. However, a single session of TPE produced immediately greater improvements in alanine aminotransferase (-60% vs. -16.3%), aspartate aminotransferase (-47.6% vs. -15.4%), and total bilirubin (-37.3% vs. -17.1%) (compared with the values of pretreatment, all p < 0.05) than MARS compared with MARS. Early intervention may be more effective than delayed therapy. Additionally, the presence of severe liver failure and renal failure indicated worse outcome. Although these findings are promising, additional case-controlled, randomized studies are required to confirm our results.