Plasmapheresis- Review Article

Plasmapheresis, which is defined as the removal of plasma, can be either “adjusted plasma” or “exchange of plasma”. The former is defined as selective withdrawal of certain (un)-pathological plasma components in different ways such as perfusion and then returning the remained donor plasma to him, the latter is non-selective removal of all components of plasma to provide blood products for injection into patients or to be used as the input of blood transfusion refinery or to remove the pathogen contained plasma before compensating for the volume losses with an equal volume of plasma or more commonly, replacing plasma with a substitute fluid (colloid or crystalloid) such as albumin. Plasmapheresis was divided generally into two groups: 1- Plasma products by donor plasmapheresis 2- Therapeutic plasmapheresis Therapeutic plasma exchange or TPE are often attributed to plasma that exit from the body of patient then compensated by any kind of replacement fluid volumes to support neurmolemic situation of patients. Plasmapheresis is currently used as a therapeutic modality in a wide array of conditions. Generally, plasmapheresis is used when a substance in the plasma, such as immunoglobulin, is acutely toxic and can be efficiently removed. Myriad conditions fall under this category, including neurologic, hematologic, metabolic, dermatologic, rheumatologic, and renal diseases, as well as intoxications, that can be treated with plasmapheresis.