title: Efficacy and limitation of apheresis therapy in critical care.
abstract: Apheresis therapy such as plasma exchange and plasma adsorption has become therapeutic tools in critical care. The indications for apheresis therapy in ICU patients include fulminant hepatic failure, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), autoimmune disease, and sepsis. During the past 11 years, 150 patients with various kinds of critical illnesses were treated with apheresis therapy in our ICU, and the overall survival rate was 50%. Apheresis therapy is especially useful in the treatment of a patient with fulminant hepatic failure because liver transplantation is seldom performed in Japan; therefore, the patient should be treated with artificial liver support. When plasma exchange is performed on the critically ill, continuous hemodiafiltration should be performed simultaneously to overcome the adverse effects of plasma exchange such as hypernatremia, metabolic alkalosis, and abrupt changes in colloid osmotic pressure and to enhance the removal rate of the causative middle molecular weight substances of hepatic failure or hepatic coma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Chiba University School of Medicine, Chuo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirasawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugai
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sadahiro
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D001781:Blood Component Removal / Q000379:methods*; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D006463:Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D011697:Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome