PLASMAPHERESIS

Apheresis from the Greek means ”to remove” or ”to take away”. Meanwhile therapeutic apheresis is a general term that refers to an extracorporeal procedure in which blood separator technology is used to remove abnormal blood cells and plasma constituents. The terms plasmapheresis, leukocytapheresis, erythrocytapheresis and thombocyt-apheresis describe the specific blood element that is removed.Plasmapheresis is a general term involving extracorporeal plasma separation by centrifugation or primary membrane separator. Further plasma processing can be accomplished by the use of secondary memebrane plasma fractionation as in double filtration plasmapheresis, low- density lipoprotein aphresis, thermofiltration, immunadsorption and cryofiltration apheresis. Otherwise, the separated plasma is replaced colloid solution as in plasma exchange.The AABB/ASFA (American Association of Blood Banks/ American Society For Apheresis) reviewed the previous literatures and divided the conditions treated with TA into categories I through IV and category P (pending).Many primary renal diseases are associated with autoantibodies, rendering them appealing indications for TPE. Some indications are well established by randomized controlled studies and are considered standard of care (Goodpasture and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura [TTP]). Others have less compelling or only anecdotal supporting evidence.