Therapeutic plasma exchange in rheumatic diseases: a university hospital experience

Each day, evidence accumulates related to the use of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in patients with rheumatic diseases. San Ignacio University Hospital has recorded all of the TPE sessions performed by the institution's apheresis group.

To describe the TPE experience of patients with rheumatologic diseases in a hospital setting.

Descriptive, observational, retrospective analysis. This study included analyses of the TPE sessions that were performed in patients with rheumatic diseases from November 2009 to November 2013.

The apheresis group performed 136 sessions in 27 patients. The mean patient age was 43 years (SD 18.5), and 59.3% of the patients were female. Regarding the diagnosis, the most frequents ones where: ANCA-associated vasculitis followed by systemic lupus erythematosus and catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome. The average number of sessions per patient was 5 (SD 1.8), and the average plasma exchange per patient was 1.3 plasma volume replacement units. The most used replacement solution was frozen fresh plasma (FFP; 63.2% of the sessions). Of all the sessions, 4.4% presented complications, and the majority of the complications were related to vascular access. Fifteen patients required renal replacement therapy (RRT) secondary to the same cause that created the need for TPE, 3 patients required RRT due to causes other than the TPE diagnostic intervention and 1 patient had undergone chronic dialysis.

TPE is a therapeutic alternative that is needed for the management of patients with rheumatic diseases with renal involvement and those who are refractory to conventional management. Our clinical results were in agreement with the global literature.