Radioimmunoassay Center, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710068, China. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710068, China. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710068, China. Electronic address: sesory@yeah.net.
International Journal of Infectious Diseases : Ijid : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. 2022;122:332-336
OBJECTIVE The COVID-19 pandemic continues, and the death toll continues to surge. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) on mortality in patients with COVID-19. METHODS A systematic search was made of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and clinicaltrials.gov, without language restrictions. Controlled clinical trials on treatment of COVID-19 with TPE, compared with
standard of care, were reviewed. Studies were pooled according to risk ratios (RRs) and weighted mean differences, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS A total of six trials (enrolling 343 participants) met the inclusion criteria. Therapeutic plasma exchange showed significant effect on mortality (RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.69; P = 0.0008). CONCLUSION TPE significantly reduced mortality in hospitalized patients with moderate-to-critical COVID-19. Plasma exchange therapy should be considered for patients with COVID-19.
