Plasma-exchange in neurological diseases.
This paper summarizes experience with plasma-exchange therapy for neurological diseases at the Saronno hospital. Most treatments were performed by discontinuous flow centrifugation, but membrane plasma separation and cascade filtration were also employed. Eighty-five patients with demyelinating diseases of the peripheral nervous system (Guillain-Barré syndrome, immune complex polyneuropathies, paraneoplastic polyneuropathies), demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (multiple sclerosis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), dermatopolymyositis and myasthenia gravis have been treated so far. Particular attention is paid to the combination of plasmapheresis with lymphocytapheresis and immunosuppressive drugs. This therapeutic approach appears to bring about dramatic and sustained improvement in most patients with neurological diseases, thus altering their natural course.