THERAPEUTIC PLASMA-EXCHANGE IN 1996

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.