2023-06-06 09:00:00
Augusta Kliniken use plasmapheresis in neurology – very rare in Germany
Evangelical Foundation Augusta
on June 6, 2023
A special form of blood washing, plasmapheresis, has been an integral part of the neurology department at the Evangelical Hospital Hattingen (EvK) for five years – and is therefore the unique selling point of the clinic. It is used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases of the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles. Because blood washing is usually done by internists or nephrologists.
“It is a great advantage for our patients in neurology that we do the plasmapheresis ourselves and have direct control over the ongoing treatment and its results,” confirms Prof. Dr. Min-Suk Yoon, Medical Director of the Hattingen Hospital and Chief Physician of Neurology. The success proves him right: “In the five years I can’t remember a patient who didn’t respond positively to the treatment!”.
Young MS patient is walking again, vision is returning
He had just sent a patient home after successful plasmapheresis treatment with around 70 percent of his vision restored. “The man with the newly diagnosed NMOSD was already almost blind in one eye,” says Prof. Dr. Yoon. NMOSD (Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders) stands for a group of rare, chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases that primarily damage the spinal cord and the optic nerves.
Prof. Yoon remembers his first patient in Hattingen five years ago, a young man in his mid-30s who was already paralyzed on one side due to multiple sclerosis: “At the time, we were still treating him with a loaner. Thanks to the plasmapheresis treatments, he can now walk and move again without showing the disease!”. However, there is also a drop of bitterness in the track record. Prof. Dr. Yoon: “Plasmapheresis has been known in neurology for more than 20 years. But for many patients it still seems to be a matter of luck to find out about it or to come to a clinic that uses this blood wash. It’s a shame for every single person affected.”
State-of-the-art devices remove the “fuel” from the inflammation
Patients come to Hattingen Neurology from all over Germany, many with a diagnosis of MS (multiple sclerosis) or polyneuropathies, often also with rare diseases such as the muscle-weakening Guillain-Barré syndrome, myasthenia gravis, in which misguided antibodies prevent communication between Nerve and muscle disorders, or autoimmune encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain that is difficult to diagnose.
Plasmapheresis is the last treatment option in acute treatment when all other treatment options, such as cortisone treatment, have been exhausted. The patient’s blood is drained from the body via a catheter in the neck or groin vein, cleaned of disease-causing proteins and returned to it. The clinic has state-of-the-art equipment that can, for example, only filter very specific substances (“antibodies”) from the patient’s blood: “It’s like taking the fuel away from the inflammatory processes in the body,” says clinic boss Yoon.
Around 150 treatments per year without any real complications
The procedure usually lasts two to three hours and is carried out over several days in a row. Last year, the Hattingen neurology department counted 150 successfully performed plasmapheresis. The “balance” of the side effects in five years is also impressive: There were two minor incidents such as hematomas, but no serious consequences such as thrombosis, strokes or bleeding. Prof. Dr. Min-Suk Yoon personally enlightens every single plasmapheresis patient about the range of side effects and the expected result of the treatment: “I have the impression that everyone understands me very well and is willing to follow this path!”.
#blood #washing #effectively #helps #patient