Effectiveness and safety of Therapeutic Plasma exchange as an adjunctive treatment for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Rationale@#COVID-19 is a new, rapidly emerging zoonotic infectious disease. Addressing the cytokine storm and coagulopathy associated with this disease can minimize its severity and complications. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) can be potentially used to remove these deleterious cytokines and procoagulant proteins.@*Objective@#This study aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of TPE as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19 patients.@*Research Design and Methodology@#A systematic search of databases was conducted utilizing PubMed and Cochrane databases to identify relevant literature until December 31, 2020. All publications were included if they use TPE in COVID- 19 patients. The exclusion was applied in publications written in language other than English, review papers, or on-going clinical trials. No restrictions on age, sex, or clinical setting were applied. The eligible studies were reviewed in full text independently by two authors. Methodological quality and risk of bias assessment were done. The findings from the individual studies were summarized.@*Results@#A total of 21 studies were included. Overall risk of bias was high within and across the studies. All studies reported marked improvement of clinical status and laboratory results after receiving the TPE. The use of TPE among COVID-19 patients resulted in no serious or life-threatening adverse events.@*Conclusion@#The available studies on the use of TPE for COVID-19 patients is still limited and evidence is of low certainty. However, based on the available data, it has an encouraging result to be used as effective and safe adjunctive treatment in COVID-19 patients.