Low-volume plasma exchange and low-dose steroid to treat severe liver injury

Abstract

High-volume plasma exchange (PLEX) to treat acute liver failure is now categorized as a Category I indication (i.e., first-line treatment as a stand-alone treatment or with other treatment modalities) by the American Society for Apheresis after a randomized controlled trial of 183 patients demonstrated survival benefit by this treatment. In this review, we provide an introduction to PLEX to treat acute liver failure syndromes for hepatologists and gastroenterologists. From our recent experience of treating 188 patients with acute liver failure syndromes with low-volume PLEX and low-dose steroid, we present five illustrative case histories of patients who benefitted from this management protocol. We discuss some postulated mechanisms how PLEX benefits patients with acute liver failure syndromes. PLEX appears to provide survival benefit in patients with acute liver failure syndromes (severe acute liver injury, acute liver failure, and acute-on chronic liver failure) and may be a nontransplant treatment option for some of these patients, especially in resource-constrained settings.