Apheresis in Neurological Disorders

• Other Authors: Dorst, Johannes (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: Medicine; immunoadsorption; acute relapsing multiple sclerosis; plasma exchange; therapeutic apheresis; multiple sclerosis; optic neuritis; relapse; class IV; steroids; Alzheimer's clinical syndrome; dementia; autoantibodies; α1-Adrenergic receptor; Inflammatory neuropathy; chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; Guillain-Barré syndrome; paranodal antibodies; plasmapheresis; Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; ß2 adrenoreceptor autoantibody; autoimmune encephalitis; limbic encephalitis; NMDAR (N-Methyl-D-Aspartat); antibody; paraneoplastic; apheresis; therapeutic plasma exchange; neurological diseases; CRP; stroke; inflammation; n/a
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

Apheresis refers to an extracorporeal therapy which aims at removing pathological constituents from the patients' blood. Due to the development of new techniques as well as the discovery of novel autoimmune antibodies, it is increasingly recognized as an important therapeutic option for a variety of autoimmune-mediated neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, autoimmune encephalitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and many others. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) constitutes the standard method of apheresis for most indications, while immunoadsorption (IA) offers a more specific, low-risk alternative. Both methods aim at removing auto-antibodies from the blood. Evidence for most neurological diseases is still low. Interestingly, more recent developments suggest that apheresis is not limited to the removal of autoantibodies but may also be useful in neurodegenerative and possibly even in acute vascular disorders.