page_title: Apheresis
section_title: Therapy
hierarchical_section_title: Apheresis / Types / Therapy
caption_attribution_description: English: (Original by Toytoy) These pictures were taken by me with my cellphone camera. I was the blood donor. The apheresis machine before use. The nurse opened a kit. The blood will be contained and separated inside the kit without touching anything else. The round object at the center is the centrifuge (shaped like a bell). The nurse installs the tubing. The platelet collector bag (right) and the glass bottle of en:anticoagulant (left). In this case, they used a blood bag without a small disc-shaped white cell filter. The machine in operation. The green light on the far left indicates everything is normal. The nurse removed the kit from the machine. They will give you a telephone number. If you lied to them about your medical history you may call them later so they can destroy that bag of blood before it is being used. Otherwise, enjoy the free cold milk they give you and remember to come again two weeks later. The test report will usually arrive within 48 hours if you let them send you an e-mail. Time: 2004/12/02 Place: The MRT Station, Taipei, Taiwan. It's my 172nd donation. -- Toytoy 02:12, Dec 4, 2004 (UTC) Deutsch: Die Apheresemaschine vor der Verwendung. Die Schwester öffnet ein Sammelkit. Innerhalb des Kits wird das Blut separiert, ohne dabei direkt mit Teilen der Maschine in Kontakt zu geraten. Die geöffnete, ründliche Apparatur rechts beinhaltet die Zentrifuge. Die Schwester schließt das Verbindungsmaterial an. Die drei blau-weiß-roten Geräte links sind Pumpen, die von außen auf die Schläuche einwirken. Eine Flasche Gerinnungshemmer und der Apheresat-Beutel (hier ohne einen kleinen Filter für de:Weiße Blutkörperchen) wurden hinzugefügt. Der Apheresevorgang läuft. Das grüne Licht signalisiert normalen Betrieb. Die Schwester entfernt den Apheresat-Beutel.
context_page_description: Apheresis is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation. It is thus an extracorporeal therapy.
  The apheresis machine was invented by American medical technologist Herb Cullis in 1972.
  One of the uses of apheresis is for collecting stem cells.
context_section_description: The various apheresis techniques may be used whenever the removed constituent is causing severe symptoms of disease. Generally, apheresis has to be performed fairly often, and is an invasive process. It is therefore only employed if other means to control a particular disease have failed, or the symptoms are of such a nature that waiting for medication to become effective would cause suffering or risk of complications.
  Plasma exchange – removal of the liquid portion of blood to remove harmful substances.  The plasma is replaced with a replacement solution.
  LDL apheresis – removal of low density lipoprotein in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia.
  Photopheresis – used to treat graft-versus-host disease, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and rejection in heart transplantation.
  Immunoadsorbtion with Staphylococcal protein A-agarose column – removal of allo- and autoantibodies (in autoimmune diseases, transplant rejection, hemophilia) by directing plasma through protein A-agarose columns. Protein A is a cell wall component produced by several strains of Staphylococcus aureus which binds to the Fc region of IgG.
  Leukocytapheresis – removal of malignant white blood cells in people with leukemia and very high white blood cell counts causing symptoms.
  Erythrocytapheresis – removal of erythrocytes (red blood cells) in people with iron overload as a result of Hereditary haemochromatosis or transfusional iron overload
  Thrombocytapheresis – removal of platelets in people with symptoms from extreme elevations in platelet count such as those with essential thrombocythemia or polycythemia vera.
caption: The assembly (A-D), operation (E) and disassembly (F) of the platelet apheresis machine which can be configured to separate other components as well.
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