Health Blurbs

Plasmapheresis is a treatment in which some of your blood is removed, purified of harmful antibodies and then returned.  The only difference in the reintroduced blood is your plasma has been exchanged with that of a donor.  The red and white blood cells and platelets are your own.

In basic terms, plasmapheresis is a method that separates the fluid part of your blood, or plasma, from the rest. The reason for this split up is because it’s the plasma that contains problematic antibodies.

The antibody removal process takes several hours and can be uncomfortable, but is typically not painful. On average, plasmapheresis is done six to ten times over the course of several weeks.

Beneficial affects of plasma exchange may be only temporary, lasting a couple months. Or it could last longer, presumably because it induces a change to your immune system’s response.

This antibody removal procedure is typically performed to treat someautoimmune diseases. Plasmapheresis is most successful for those with myasthenia gravis and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

However, it may offer benefits for any health condition in which circulating antibodies play a part in the disease process, autoimmune or not, such as:

• myeloma
• pemphigus
• severe lupus
• cryoglobulinemia
• hemolytic anemia
• multiple sclerosis
• Sjögren’s syndrome
• neuromyelitis optica
• Miller Fisher syndrome
• Goodpasture’s syndrome
• Lambert-Eaton syndrome
• paraneoplastic syndromes
• inherited peripheral neuropathy
• neurological complications of AIDS
• inflammatory myopathies ~ myositis
• thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura ~ also replaces missing enzyme

For some of these diseases, it’s still up in the air whether plasmapheresis provides a health benefit.

Sometimes, plasmapheresis is used for Refsum disease as a way of removing phytanic acid buildup. And it’s also used with blood incompatible kidney transplants to remove natural antibodies that can destroy replaced kidney.

Plasmapheresis is not brought to you without some potential health problems. During the plasma exchange you may experience a drop in blood pressure, which can cause:

• coldness
• sweating
• faintness
• dizziness
• blurred vision
• abdominal cramps

Anticoagulant medications used to keep your blood from clotting can cause adverse reactions, like:

• tingling
• seizures
• metallic taste
• muscle cramps
• irregular heartbeat

Should you suffer from a blood clotting disorder, then plasmaphoresis isn’t an option for you.

You could have an allergic reaction to solutions or sterilizing agents used during the plasma exchange, a cause for:

• rash
• pruritus
• wheezing

And the human plasma replacement itself may cause anaphylaxis.

Immunosuppressant drugs, i.e. corticosteroids (prednisone), are the most common treatment for autoimmune diseases. But these autoimmune disease medications have unhealthy side effects when taken in high doses or for many years. When combined with plasmapheresis, the dosages can often be reduced.

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