[Plasmapheresis in the patients with malignant tumor]

Therapeutic plasmapheresis for malignant tumor was first applied scientifically to transmissible tumors in dogs in 1908 by Crile et al. In the 1970s, immunosuppressive factors in the plasma of cancer-bearing patients were described. Plasmapheresis has been widely applied to many human malignant diseases for immunosuppressive factors being removed with new plasma separating methods, sachas continuous centrifugation or membrane plasma separation. Recently more selective removal method have been developed. The effects of plasmapheresis are recognized not only from an immunological point of view but also in performance status. The latter effect perhaps depends on the replacement of fresh frozen plasma rather than the removal mechanism itself. It is thought that plasmapheresis improves not only immunological status, but also homeostasis in patients with malignancies. There are no cancer treatments which improve the performance status of advanced cancer patients except plasmapheresis. In the future, plasmapheresis is likely to receive more attention and further development as an anti-cancer therapy for immunomodulation and fundamental treatment in combined immuno-chemotherapy.