Korean J Blood Transfus.  2015 Apr;26(1):9-17. 10.17945/kjbt.2015.26.1.9.

A Choice and Precautions of Replacement Fluids for Therapeutic Plasma Exchange

• Choi GR
• Choi SJ
• Shin SA
• Lee K
• Kim S
• Kim HO

• KMID: 2139821
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17945/kjbt.2015.26.1.9

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is an effective and practical treatment for separation and removal of harmful antibodies or pathogenic substances from the blood. The volume of plasma removed must be replaced by a replacement fluid such as 4~5% albumin solution or Fresh frozen plasma (FFP). We conducted a study of coagulopathy using albumin solution and checked the chemical composition of fresh frozen plasma.
METHODS
We measured pre- and post-TPE PT/aPTT for evaluation of the effect of albumin replacement on coagulation from 192 TPE sessions of 19 patients. We also investigated routine chemistry test items including glucose and electrolytes from 10 randomly selected FFP.
RESULTS
The post PT and aPTT within four hours after TPE were prolonged due to a transient decrease in coagulation factors, but were normalized within 2 days after TPE. All coagulation time was corrected to the level of the pre-TPE status within four hours before the next TPE except the patients who received TPE 6 times or more. FFP showed higher level in glucose, sodium and inorganic phosphate.
CONCLUSION
Albumin exchange produces temporary coagulation factor deficiency. However, this transient factor deficiency rarely causes clinical problems and the factors are rapidly corrected by redistribution and resynthesis. We should be careful about hypocalcemia, hyperglycemia, and hypernatremia when using FFP replacement.

Keyword

Replacement fluid; Therapeutic plasma exchange; Adverse reaction

MeSH Terms

Antibodies
Blood Coagulation Factors
Chemistry
Electrolytes
Glucose
Humans
Hyperglycemia
Hypernatremia
Hypocalcemia
Plasma
Plasma Exchange*
Sodium
Antibodies
Blood Coagulation Factors
Electrolytes
Glucose
Sodium