Therapeutic plasma exchange: A life-saving modality in Wegener's granulomatosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is increasingly used throughout the medical field. We aimed to analyze the various aspects of TPE practices at our hospital in terms of clinical indications, technical feasibility, safety, outcome as well as complications associated with the procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data included demographic profiles, clinical parameters, and technical characteristics of each TPE procedure. All the information was noted in data spread sheet (Microsoft Excel 2013) for further analysis. RESULTS: This is a 3-year retrospective study of total 266 TPE procedures carried out on 92 patients with different clinical conditions. Out of them, 55 (59.8%) were male and 37 (40.2%) were female patients. There were six major categories such as (1) neurological, (2) hematological, (3) gastrological, (4) renal, (5) rheumatic, and (6) others. The TPE treatment was highest in neurology group (60.2%), followed by gastrology group (24.4%). Most of the procedures (82.6%) were according to the American society of apheresis 2016 I or II categories (76/92 patients). CONCLUSION: TPE is beneficial and used as primary or secondary adjunctive therapy for a wide spectrum of various diseases and syndromes. TPE is considered as safe, cost-effective, and life-saving treatment modality in various diseases.

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“…TPE in combination with immunosuppression has dramatically improved the outcome in patients with WG. [ 19 20 ]…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%