title: Therapeutic plasma exchange in patients with grade 2-3 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a ten-year experience.
abstract: In the present retrospective study we report our 10-year experience with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in 18 patients with grade 2-3 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)-associated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). During TPE a mean total quantity of 26.5 +/- 15.1 L of plasma was exchanged. Five patients (27.7%) had a complete response eight patients (44.4%) had a partial response while five patients (27.7%) died during TPE treatment. Among the survivors, relapse of TTP occured in three patients (23%) and although these patients were treated again with TPE, all died. First-year survival rate was 41.2%. Our results indicate that TPE may be effective in the treatment of some patients with grade 2-3 HSCT-associated TTP.
authors.affiliation: Renal Unit, Department of Hematology, G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Fotini
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Christidou
authors.forename: Athanasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Athanasiadou
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kalogiannidis
authors.forename: Taïsir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Natse
authors.forename: Gerasimos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bamichas
authors.forename: Riant
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salum
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sakellari
authors.forename: Achileas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anagnostopoulos
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fassas
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sombolos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010951:Plasma Exchange / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D011697:Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome