Vera Kolodzig promotes blood treatment that doctors disapprove. “It doesn’t make sense”
The actress underwent the procedure to “avoid” getting sick. However, she has already removed the post from her page.
“Dr. Ana Moreira connected me to a machine, not because I am sick, but to prevent me from becoming so.” Vera Kolodzig took the opportunity of a post on her Instagram page, initially shared on July 11, but which has since been deleted, to tell her followers that she underwent a blood treatment. However, doctors warn of the risks associated with using this technique in healthy individuals.
The procedure is called therapeutic apheresis and aims to remove certain portions of blood to treat a pathology. The process involves collecting a small percentage of a blood component, such as platelets, red blood cells, or plasma, with the help of an automatic device known as a cell separator.
Next, the remaining blood components are returned to the donor through the same needle. Normally, this type of collection is important for patients undergoing bone marrow transplants or aggressive chemotherapy, as in leukemia and lymphoma. However, this is not the case for the 39-year-old actress.
After the post, several specialists in internal medicine and immunohematology pointed out that there is no scientific evidence regarding the use of this treatment in healthy individuals. “As a doctor, I cannot say that this treatment should be done on people who are not sick,” Ana Moreira assured CNN, correcting what the artist wrote.
Moreover, the healthcare professional mentioned that she proceeded with the treatment to give a context of integrative medicine as a whole, including it in the Kológica videos and podcast episodes she made in collaboration with Vera Kolodzig, where she discusses various health-related topics.
The technique is indicated for treating conditions such as autoimmune diseases like myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and systemic lupus erythematosus; severe dyslipidemias; hematological diseases such as sickle cell anemia and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), kidney diseases like hemolytic-uremic syndrome and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis; and transplant complications like graft-versus-host disease,” emphasizes Dr. Ana Isabel Pedroso in the same publication.
She adds that “although generally safe, therapeutic apheresis can have some risks, including allergic reactions, electrolyte imbalance, bleeding, and hypotension,” thus “it doesn’t make sense” when used to prevent diseases in individuals without any health issues. These are “unnecessary medical interventions, high costs, and potential health risks without proven benefits,” she concludes.
CNN Portugal tried to contact Vera Kolodzig, but did not receive a response.
Yes, you are seeing advertising for an invasive technique on a healthy person, as “preventive treatment”. 🤡🤡
I can’t believe this. pic.twitter.com/U853bOV0vO
— Jo 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@joochips) July 11, 2024