OBJECTIVES

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is a procedure in which blood of the patient is passed through a medical device which separate plasma from other components of blood and the plasma is removed. Replacement fluid such as human albumin, blood products or saline solution is then returned to the body. It is a common treatment modality in management of various diseases in the field of nephrology, hematology and neurology. Through TPE, pathologic substances that cause the underlying disease such as autoantibodies and inflammatory mediators are eliminated and thus improve patient outcome. TPE can be performed using two categories of devices; membrane (m) or centrifugal (c). This study examined the utilization of TPE procedures at a public tertiary hospital.

METHODS

A retrospective medical chart review was performed from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019 in the medical department of Hospital Seberang Jaya. Demographic and clinical data of patients who received TPE during this period were recorded using an electronic form. Descriptive analysis was conducted using STATA software.

RESULTS

Over the period of 2 years, 10 patients had 89 TPE procedures (range, 3-38). Patients median age was 34 years (range, 16-50) and majority were females (80%). The distribution of disease indicated for TPE were neurology (90%) and nephrology (10%). All patients had central venous access and membrane technique was used for TPE procedure. 14.6% of TPE procedures reported side effects. Central access catheter related complications were most frequent (46%). 3 patients experienced treatment interruption due to central access catheter and had to be removed.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides further evidence to support TPE application in different diseases.