Small volume plasma exchange (PE) was evaluated in 6 patients with acute Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and in 1 with its chronic relapsing type. Patients were treated during the onset or progression of their neurologic involvement and no other combined therapy was provided. 6 of our patients had clear benefit following the first session. Two procedures on alternate days were carried out in 4 patients while a third procedure was performed in 3 due to insufficient exchange or to equivocal improvement. After PE, patients showed moderate to marked improvement in motor strength, in their ventilatory function and in their sensory symptoms, which improved definitely but more slowly than motility. Each patient showed, prior to therapy, high levels of immune complexes; their level was clearly reduced by PE and clinical results correlated with this removal. No relapse was observed during 5-15 months of appropriate follow-up.

A method for the quality control of platelet viability, based on N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM)-induced lipid peroxidation, is reported. Duplicate platelet concentrates from individual donors were stored at 22 and 4°C, respectively. At time O and at 24-hour intervals, pH, O(2) and CO(2) tensions, ADP-induced aggregation, glass adhesivity, hypotonic shock response (HSR) and NEM-induced lipid peroxidation were measured. A highly significant correlation between NEM-induced lipid peroxidation and HSR was established, which suggests that the former method can be used for the in vitro prediction of posttransfusion survival of preserved platelets