title: Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Neurologic Diseases: An Experience with 91 Patients in Seven Years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study, we report the results of our experience of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) for neuroimmunologic disorders performed at our hospital over a seven-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 91 patients (53 male, 38 female) who had been treated at our center with TPE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  60 patients with Guillain-Barrè syndrome (GBS), 23 with myasthenia gravis (MG), 4 with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and 1 patient each with polymyositis, septic encephalopathy, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Opsoclonus-Myoclonus syndrome (OMS) received TPE. 26.7% of GBS patient's made complete recovery, 61.7% had partial recovery and 11.7% patients died due to respiratory failure. Despite our best efforts and effective TPE treatments, 13.4% of MG patients deceased, however, 78% had full recovery. Three patients with CIDP were discharged with full and 1 patient with partial recovery. The patient with ADEM had partial recovery with TPE at first, but deceased 2 months later due to pneumonia-related respiratory insufficiency. While, patient with polymyositis had slight-partial recovery, we obtained full recovery with TPE in septic encephalopathy and OMS patients. The side effects and complications of treatments with TPE, which included hypotension, hypocalcaemia and anemia, were mild and manageable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The improvement rates were encouraging and we concluded that significant benefit can be achieved with TPE for the treatment of neuroimmunological disorders.
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karaca
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Hematology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: İlknur
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Kozanoğlu
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Başak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karakurum Göksel
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karataş
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Meliha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: V Deniz
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Yerdelen
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Semih
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giray
authors.affiliation: Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana Research and Implementation Center, Department of Neurology, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zülfikar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Arlier
keywords: Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Myasthenia Gravis; Therapeutic Plasma Exchange