As part of gathering data for its Networking Directory, the RegistryiDirectory Committee of the American Society for Apheresis solicited data on the types of apheresis procedures performed. equipment used, and diseascs treated in the year 1991. In this voluntary solicitation of the 266 centers responding. 94% were from the United States. For those centcrs reporting exact numbers of procedures performcd out of all institutions doing the procedures 48,221 therapcutic and 330.702 donor procedures were reported. The dominant type of equipment being used is the ccntrifugal type.
For therapcutic procedures plasma exchange is the most prevalent procedure and for donor procedures it is plateletphcresis. For therapeutics. Guillain-Barre syndrome was the most prevalent disease treated by plasmapheresis and leukemias by cytapheresis. Thc survey methodology proved to be valuable in gathering the data on a voluntary basis. With subsequent surveys and refinement of its methodology the apheresis practices in the United States could be asscssed quantitatively to provide information on the number and types of procedures being carried out. Such information is required to assess the impact of apheresis technology on health care. to project trends, and to review the cost impact of this technology.