ABILITY TO REMOVE IMMUNOGLOBULINS AND ANTIGANGLIOSIDE ANTIBODIES BY PLASMA-EXCHANGE, DOUBLE-FILTRATION PLASMAPHERESIS AND IMMUNOADSORPTION

In Japan, patients with Guillain-Barre (GBS) and Fisher's (FS) syndrom es often receive plasma exchange (PE), double-filtration plasmapheresi s (DFPP). or immunoadsorption (IA). To determine whether DFPP and IA a re as effective as PE, we compared their abilities to remove immunoglo bulins and anti-ganglioside antibodies. Plasma samples were obtained f rom 55 GBS patients and 53 FS patients, before and after each session of the treatments. PE decreased the IgG concentration more than DFPP d id, its abilities to remove anti-ganglioside IgG antibodies in PE mark edly being superior to the abilities of the other plasmaphereses. IA o n a tryptophan-immobilized column adsorbed anti-ganglioside IgG antibo dies more effectively than IA on other affinity columns. (C) 1998 Else vier Science B.V.