[Plasmapheresis in the treatment of rapidly progressing glomerulonephritis]

The authors are of the opinion that plasmapheresis (PP) combined with immunosuppressant therapy is an effective and a relatively safe method for the treatment of rapidly progressing glomerulonephritis (RPGN). Introduction of PP in multimodality treatment of RPGN made it possible to arrest rapidly progressing renal failure in all 6 treated patients. After PP treatment was over, renal function was recovered completely in 3 patients. One patient manifested the retention of renal failure of medium degree while rare hemodialysis sessions permitted one to control water-electrolyte disorders. In two patients the discontinuation of PP treatment resulted in the progress of renal failure. The data obtained do not make it possible to relate the improvement of renal function exclusively to the action of PP, since all the patients received immunosuppressants. Nevertheless, in 2 cases, the improvement could be attributed to PP, for its discontinuation in these patients (without any changes in the remaining treatment) brought about again the progress of renal failure.