Research conducted by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montenegro and the Clinical Center of Montenegro has shown that plasmapheresis (PF) is a widely used and safe method in the treatment of various neurological diseases of autoimmune origin, the UCG announced.
"This therapeutic procedure, which is used to remove harmful immune factors from patients' blood, has shown significant clinical benefits in patients with multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and myasthenia gravis. The study, conducted from January 2020 to April 2022, analyzed 246 plasmapheresis treatments in 43 patients, with the results indicating an improvement in the clinical picture in the majority of patients," they said.
Plasmapheresis, they explained, is a medical procedure that removes plasma from the blood that may contain pathogenic immune components, and then the blood is returned to the patient with a replacement fluid.
"In this study, patients were divided into four groups according to indications. In nine patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), plasmapheresis was administered as part of therapy in acute exacerbations of the disease, and in eight of them, an improvement in the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of at least 0,5 points was recorded. In patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is characterized by rapidly progressive muscle weakness, plasmapheresis was performed in 20 patients, with 14 showing significant improvement in functional ability according to the Hughes scale. The therapy was also administered to four patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), where an improvement in muscle strength was recorded. The most heterogeneous group consisted of patients in whom the mechanism of disease development is assumed to be related to immune system dysfunction," the UCG announced.
They also indicate that, although plasmapheresis is generally a safe procedure, adverse effects were recorded in 14 patients in this study, but that they were mostly mild and transient.
"The procedure is carried out using specialized medical devices that filter the blood, remove unwanted substances, and return the purified blood to patients. The procedure itself lasts between one and three hours and is most often repeated in several sessions, depending on the severity of the disease and therapeutic response."
As announced, the conclusions of the study indicate the significant efficacy and safety of plasmapheresis in the treatment of immune-mediated neurological diseases. "These results further confirm that plasmapheresis is a key therapeutic method in patients with serious neurological conditions, especially in situations where standard therapies do not provide satisfactory results."
The authors of the study are: Milovan Roganović, Jevto Eraković, Ljiljana Radulović, Slaviša Peruničić, Dragica Milikić, Balša Vujović, Zilha Idrizović, Sandra Vujović, Mladen Debeljević, Sanja Gluščević.
The work was published in the journal Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis and is available in the PubMed database, which is maintained by the National Library of Medicine within the National Institutes of Health of the United States of America.
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