Open AccessSafety and Efficacy of Convalescent Plasma Therapy for the Management of COVID-19: A Systematic Review
Author(s) -
Sitaram Khadka,
Muhammad Saleem,
Dhan Bahadur Shrestha,
Pravash Budhathoki
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
coronaviruses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2666-7975
pISSN - 2666-7967
DOI - 10.2174/2666796701999201204114525
Subject(s) - medicine , adverse effect , randomized controlled trial , intensive care medicine , covid-19 , modalities , clinical trial , concomitant , data extraction , medline , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , social science , sociology , political science , law
Till date, no proven therapy exists for coronavirus disease (COVID-19),though different types of treatment modalities are being practiced around the world. Differentstudies regarding Convalescent Plasma (CP) therapy from COVID-19 recovered donors haveshown favorable results with fewer adverse consequences. In this systematic review, we aimed todetermine the safety and efficacy of CP as a therapy for COVID-19. Methods and Materials: The English language databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirectwere searched up to 22 May 2020. Eligibility for inclusion, risk of bias assessment, anddata extraction from the included studies were determined and a narrative synthesis was conducted. Results: A total of 12 studies were selected for review. The overall risks of bias were moderate tohigh. The results revealed significance in the initiation of CP therapy during the early stages ofviremia from a safety and efficacy viewpoint. The patients also received concomitant drugs andother supportive therapies in most cases. Some cases of mortality were reported in 3 studies. Viralloads were documented to decrease and become negative in 8 studies within 3-26 days post-transfusion.The improvement in clinical symptoms following CP therapy was demonstrated in 9 studies.Most of the patients experienced very few adverse effects. Conclusions: The rational practice of CP therapy based on a risk-benefit judgment can prove to bean efficacious therapeutic option as a last resort until the approval of any therapeutic and/or prophylacticagent(s). The substantial randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are necessary to validate the effectivenessof such therapy.