Apheresis

The removal of pathologic humors by various methods is an ancient medical r emedy used in the management of diseases whose pathophysiology is poorly un derstood and whose effective treatment modalities are lacking. The contempo rary means for such an approach involves apheresis, which is now possible d ue to advances in blood banking technologies. Apheresis has been used in mo st of the major rheumatic diseases, in particular systemic lupus erythemato sus and rheumatoid arthritis. Although numerous case reports describe clini cal benefits of apheresis in rheumatologic disorders, data from clinical tr ials are discouraging and suggest a limited role for apheresis in rheumatic disease management.