Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) - apheresis and operative risks

✍ Scribed by Dobri D. Kiprov; Randolph Lippert; Erik Sandstrom; Frank R. Jones; Richard J. Cohen; Donald Abrams; David F. Busch

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 659 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0733-2459
• DOI: 10.1002/jca.2920020436

✦ Synopsis

The removal of immune complexes, autoantibodies and suppressor factors from the circulation of patients with AIDS and AIDS related conditions by plasmapheresis and selective immunoadsorption may play a role as a therapeutic modality in these disorders.

Lymphocytapheresis may also be of potential use in AIDS related conditions with presumed autoimmune basis. Perfusion of plasma over immobilized protein A columns is being evaluated as a possible immunomodulatory and antitumor therapy in patients with AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma. Although apheresis procedures as a therapeutic modality in AIDS related conditions are still at the experimental stage, preliminary results are encouraging. The possible transmission of the disease by blood products presents a health hazard to health workers involved in the field of apheresis. Since the mode of transmission of the disease appears to be similar to hepatitis B, strict hepatitis B precautions should be enforced in every case in which AIDS suspected blood is being processed.