[The treatment potentials of plasmapheresis in glomerulonephritis]

Plasmapheresis (PA) was used in the treatment of 26 patients with primary glomerulonephritis (GN) and in 12 patients suffering from secondary GN. In spite of large volumes of plasma exfusions and their high rate, the authors did not notice that PA produced a beneficial effect on the main symptoms of GN. The clinical effect due to PA was attained in one patient with pseudo-tuberculous interstitial nephritis. Some parameters of homeostasis considerably improved and/or returned to normal for a brief period. The initial refractory nature of GN as regards the immunotropic agents and/or its hormonal dependence did not reduce after PA. It has been shown that replenishment of the removed protein within the range of 10 to 50% does not interfere with the reserve potentialities of restorative protein synthesis in GN patients.