HWN Suggests

Therapeutic Plasma Exchange & the Future of Aging

The ancient Greek philosopher-physician Hippocrates is best known for his maxim “first, do no harm” which did not exclude draining the blood of his patients. “What medicines do not heal, the lance will,” he wrote. Before Hippocrates, the Egyptians also practiced bloodletting, which remained a common medical therapy in many countries into the 19th century, before being thoroughly discredited.

Prematurely, as it turns out.

While it’s true that the draining of whole blood has little therapeutic value except in a very few diseases like hemochromatosis—aka “iron overload”—the latest scientific studies point to components of blood that accumulate with age and drive many different…

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Articles of Interest

A two-year analysis of therapeutic apheresis practices in a tertiary center: are we chasing the new indications?

Therapeutic apheresis (TA) is a general term for all extracorporeal blood purification procedures in which components of blood are separated through an extracorporeal device to treat a disease.

Apheresis, Plasmapheresis and Plasma Exchange

Apheresis is the general technique of extracorporeal blood purification whereby one constituent is removed and the remainder is returned to the patient.

Application of apheresis science in Emergency Medicine

There is ongoing increase in the number of indications of therapeutic apheresis (TA) for the treatment of various clinical conditions, which is reflected by 14 new diseases included in the recently published ASFA guideline. Basic science and knowledge of indications of TA are important for almost all physicians as this treatment modality covers a growing list of medical disciplines including hematology, nephrology, neurology, gynecology, rheumatology, cardiology, endocrinology, dermatology, hematopoietic/solid organ transplantation etc.

When to Consider Plasmapheresis in the Emergency Department

During the process, normal saline or albumin replaces the plasma and then the cleaned plasma is replaced back into your body. In a process very similar to dialysis, plasma can be removed from the body to cleanse it to treat a variety of disorders...

Resources

Apheresis 101

This site is devoted to therapeutic apheresis education. Dr. Kiprov is an immunologist who has devoted his medical career to the research and development of TA and has published more than 100 articles on the subject.

American Society for Apheresis

ASFA is an organization of physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals whose mission is to advance apheresis medicine for patients, donors and practitioners through education, evidence-based practice, research and advocac