title: Therapeutic apheresis in peripheral and retinal circulatory disorders.
abstract: In microcirculation disorders, the therapeutic apheresis seems to have two different effects. The first, achieved after only a few sessions, is acute, consisting of drastic reduction of blood viscosity and obtained with the use of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis, rheopheresis, or fibrinogen apheresis. The second effect is long term, or chronic, and needs to be evaluated after a long course of treatment. The mechanisms underlying the chronic effect are still objects of debate and take into account the pleiotropic effects of apheresis. However, it is likely that the acute effect of apheresis mainly influences the functional components of the vascular damage, and so the derived rheological benefit might last only for a short period. The chronic effect, on the contrary, by acting on the morphological alterations of the vascular walls, requires the apheresis treatment to be prolonged for a longer period or even cycles of treatment to be programmed.
authors.affiliation: Section of Nephrology, Department Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. a.ramunni@nephro.uniba.it
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramunni
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brescia
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Fino
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piscopo
authors.forename: Loreto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gesualdo
mesh_terms: D001781:Blood Component Removal / Q000379:methods*; D001809:Blood Viscosity; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008833:Microcirculation; D018917:Optic Neuropathy, Ischemic / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D008078:Cholesterol, LDL