Abstract
Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) can be applied as an effective therapeutic option
in children with hematological, neurological, nephrological, and autoimmune/rheumatic
disorders. We aimed to report our TPE experience in pediatric patients. In this article,
we retrospectively reviewed the records of pediatric patients who underwent TPE between
2019 and 2021. A total of 128 TPE sessions were performed in 25 patients (13 males,12
females; mean age 59.6 ± 11.7 [3–198] months). The TPE indications were sepsis with/without
multiorgan dysfunction syndrome in five patients, acute liver failure, hemolytic uremic
syndrome caused by Shiga toxin, and autoimmune hemolytic anemia in three patients,
respectively, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune encephalitis, and multisystem inflammatory
syndrome in children (MIS-C) in two patients each, and myasthenia gravis crisis, meningococcemia,
hemolytic uremic syndrome caused by coronavirus disease 2019, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis,
autoimmune encephalitis, and metabolic disease (fatty acid oxidation defect, liver
failure) in one patient each. Based on our findings, we proposed that the American
Society for Apheresis criteria should be updated according to newly described clinical
conditions such as MIS-C.
Keywords
therapeutic plasma exchange - American Society for Apheresis guidelines - multisystem
inflammatory syndrome in children