title: Patients' quality of life after stopping plasma exchange: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Plasma exchange is being widely used to treat various serious medical conditions. There has been very little follow-up data to describe the quality of life (QOL) of plasma exchange-recipients after active plasma exchange has stopped.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the QOL of plasma exchange recipients after stopping plasma exchange.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pilot study, based on responses to a postal questionnaire and clinical data obtained from the patients' charts, was carried out. The scores were computed from questionnaire responses and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 59% with 58 patients completing a questionnaire three months after their final plasma exchange therapy. We identified significant heterogeneity in the quality of life of plasma exchange recipients after stopping plasma exchange therapy. This could be driven by different patient co-morbidities. We recommend that during follow up visits, a multi-disciplinary approach including consultation with a social worker might be considered for patients who may continue to have some limitations in their psychosocial activities post-discontinuation of plasma exchange. The high response rate to the questionnaire indicates that PLEX patients are interested in being involved in QOL studies, which suggests potential support for a prospective study of QOL with pre and post questionnaires and more detailed tracking of baseline co-morbidities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital, Canada.
authors.forename: Randah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dahlan
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital, Canada.
authors.forename: Brendan B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Western University and London Health Sciences Hospital, Canada.
authors.forename: Maan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alkhattabi
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Western University and London Health Sciences Center, Canada.
authors.forename: Kerri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Western University and London Health Sciences Center, Canada. Electronic address: william.clark@lhsc.on.ca.
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Ottawa Hospital, #101-270 Sandridge Road, Ottawa K1L 5A2, Canada.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rock
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Plasma exchange; Quality of life