Despite treatment with intensive immunosuppressive drug regimens, the prognosis of @entity1 suffering from severe progressive @entity792 like @entity1252 ( @entity1252 ), @entity1985 ( @entity1985 ), and Beh  et's disease is poor. Side effects (infections and @entity5 ) often occur. In the present trial, 35 @entity1 suffering from @entity792 ( @entity1252 , n = 21; @entity1985 , n = 10; and Beh  et's disease, n = 4) were treated for 3.7 +/- 2.0 years with 2.5 +/- 0.6 mg @entity205 /kg body weight/day in addition to corticosteroids alone or in combination with @entity500 and/or @entity786 . In active stages of the diseases with extremely high concentrations of anti-ds-DNA-antibodies, antinuclear antibodies, circulating immunocomplexes, and reduced complement concentrations, therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has been applied. Compared with previous treatment modalities, significantly (p < 0.05) more effective and rapid reductions of the antibodies were reached. Clinical disorders improved within 1-6 weeks. All @entity1 reported increased performance and a better quality of life. After 1-12 months, the previously required doses of immunosuppressive drugs and the frequency of TPE could be reduced by 40-100%. After 13.4 +/- 11.8 months in 17 of 35 @entity1 (8 with @entity1252 , 5 with @entity1985 , 4 with Beh  et's disease), @entity205 was established as the monotherapy. No severe side effects were registered. In treating active stages of severe progressive @entity792 and forms with persistent high antibody levels, the addition of TPE to conventional therapy was very effective, as observed in both clinical and laboratory parameters.

XXXX and therapeutic plasma exchange in treatment of progressive @entity792 .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity500 :: ('MESH:D001379', 'Chemical') :: ['azathioprine'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['malignant tumors'] @entity1252 :: ('MESH:D008180', 'Disease') :: ['SLE', 'systemic lupus erythematosus'] @entity786 :: ('MESH:D003520', 'Chemical') :: ['cyclophosphamide'] @entity205 :: ('MESH:D016572', 'Chemical') :: ['cyclosporine'] @entity1985 :: ('MESH:D009404', 'Disease') :: ['NS', 'nephrotic syndrome'] @entity792 :: ('MESH:D001327', 'Disease') :: ['autoimmune diseases']
@entity205 :: (MESH:D016572,Chemical) :: ['Cyclosporine']
