ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the abilities of plasma perfusion and plasma exchange to remove blood endotoxin and cytokines from hepatic failure patients. Methods Plasma perfusion and plasma exchange were performed on 7 cases and 10 cases for the treatment of chronic severe hepatitis, respectively. Changes of blood endotoxin and cytokines before and after treatment were analyzed. Results The levels of cytokines and endotoxin in patient blood decreased greatly, but bilirubin decreased slightly after treatment with plasma perfusion. The changes of interleukin 6 were very limited. Compared with plasma perfusion, the removal of bilirubin was higher but that of cytokines was lower after plasma exchange. Conclusion Plasma perfusion can remove cytokines with high efficiency and retard the development of hepatic failure.