Therapeutic Plasmapheresis Today

In 1914, Abel, along with Rowentree and Turner, introduced the term “plasmapheresis” whose literal meaning is “subtraction”. The first “therapeutic plasmapheresis” was performed in 1952 in a patient with multiple myeloma; in 1963, patients with paraproteinemia were treated with plasmapheresis to reduce blood hyperviscosity, as described by Salomon and Fahey. During the course of time, more specific and selective techniques were gradually introduced, allowing the use of the treatment for new clinical indications (plasma exchange, CRYO apheresis, leukapheresis, thrombocytopheresis, lymphocyte apheresis, LDL apheresis). The current indications for plasmapheresis have been defined, and periodically re-established, by two scientific American associations, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) and the American Society of apheresis (ASFA), based on the available evidence of efficacy of this treatment in specific diseases. In 1993, a study group for therapeutic apheresis was created within the Italian So...