Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is an extracorporeal blood purificat
ion technique to remove large molecular weight substances. Since the l
ate seventies TPE was used in a variety of diseases in which humoral f
actors may play a part in the pathogenesis. Today, accepted indication
s only exist for a few entities in defined situations: Anti-glomerular
basement membrane antibody mediated disease, TTP/HUS, Guillain-Barre-
syndrome, hyperviscosity syndrome, chronic polyneuropathy associated w
ith IgG and IgA gammopathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneu
ropathy and myasthenia gravis.