Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Renal Disorders

Nephrologists use hemodialysis and hemofiltration to remove low molecular weight toxic constituents, and increasingly deploy therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE)/plasmapheresis to eliminate higher molecular weight substances such as immunoglobulins or immune complexes from plasma. This review discusses different modalities of TPE, their application in renal disorders, its rationale and complications. TPE is recommended based on evidence, in alloantibody-mediated diseases such as humoral antibody mediated renal transplant rejection, autoantibody mediated glomerulonephritis (GN) disorders for example, anti-glomerular basement membrane GN, as well as in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody mediated GN and antibody mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. In many other renal illnesses, the rational use of TPE is gaining currency. Double membrane filtration, immune adsorption and cryofiltration are important modifications in TPE