Therapeutic plasma exchange is an extra-corporeal technique able to remove from blood macromolecules and/or replace deficient plasma factors. It is the treatment of choice in hyperviscosity syndrome, due to the presence of quantitatively or qualitatively abnormal plasma proteins such as paraproteins. In spite of a general consensus on the indications to therapeutic plasma exchange in hypervisco...

We describe the case of a 33-year-old woman having corticosteroid-refractory eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) who presented with abdominal pain and responded dramatically to plasma exchange. Eosinophilia, asthma history, neuropathy, pulmonary infiltrates, and paranasal sinus abnormalities confirmed the diagnosis of EGPA. Treatment was initiated with 1 g/day of methylpredniso...

Four patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) were treated by plasma-exchange transfusion, three of whom recovered completely. Because previous reports in the literature describing exchange transfusion as treatment for TTP have demonstrated variable success rates, particular attention was given to "dose" and frequency of plasma exchange. Evans blue dye studies established a measu...

M a i n r e s u l t s Plasma exchange: At 4 weeks, more patients who received plasma exchange than supportive care improved by ≥ 1 disability grade (Table). Mean improvement in disability grade was greater in the plasma exchange group than in the supportive care group (4 RCTs, n = 585) (weighted mean difference [WMD] −0.89, 95% CI −1.14 to −0.63). The number of patients still on a ventilator 4 ...

The study compared chlorambucil alone with chlorambucil in combination with plasma exchange in patients with polyneuropathy associated with monoclonal IgM. Forty four patients were prospectively randomly assigned, in a comparative open trial, to receive either 0.1 mg/kg/day chlorambucil orally, for 12 months or chlorambucil associated with 15 courses of plasma exchange, during the first four mo...

Rat and guinea pig liver microsomes labeled with phospholipid (32)P were incubated with rat, guinea pig, and rabbit plasma in a KCl-Tris-EDTA buffer. A net transfer of microsomal phophatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine to plasma was observed. In addition, an exchange of phospholipids between microsomes and plasma took place. During 20-min incubations at 37 degrees C, the exchange of pho...

A retrospective study of 48 patients was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of plasma exchange in children with idiopathic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (IRPGN), and renal or non-renal vasculitis. All patients were followed up at a single centre over a 15 year period. Treatment consisted of corticosteroids and/or cytotoxic agents. Plasma exchange was used in all patients because of sev...