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Apheresis activity in Venezuela
Author(s) -
Saltiel Christiane
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of clinical apheresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.697
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1098-1101
pISSN - 0733-2459
DOI - 10.1002/jca.20034
Subject(s) - medicine , apheresis , therapeutic plasma exchange , thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura , adverse effect , therapeutic effect , hematology , plasmapheresis , intensive care medicine , immunology , platelet , antibody
Abstract Interest for apheresis activity has been growing in Venezuela. In 1976 there were only a few devices; in 2003, 80 apheresis machines performed 27,675 donor apheresis procedures and 547 therapeutic procedures countrywide. We report the activity at the Metropolitan Blood Bank (the largest one of the country) in the period 1999–2003: 597 therapeutic procedures were performed in 171 patients, during 212 crisis episodes. The average age was 38 ± 16 years, 65% male and 35% female. Most of the therapeutic procedures were therapeutic plasma exchange for hematology diseases (mainly thrombotic thrombocitopenic purpura and hemophilia inhibitors), including 184 therapeutic procedures with the Autopheresis‐C (Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, IL). Most common adverse effects (3.9%) were hypotension and allergic reactions to the plasma. J. Clin. Apheresis. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.