Therapeutic plasma exchange in acute liver failure

Abstract

Background: Multi-organ dysfunction in acute liver failure (ALF) has been attributed to a systemic inflammatory response directly triggered by the injured liver. High-volume therapeutic plasma exchange (HV-TPE) has been demonstrated in a large randomized controlled trial to improve survival. Here, we investigated if a more cost-/ resource effective low-volume (LV) TPE strategy might have comparable beneficial effects. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated the effect of LV-TPE on remote organ failure, hemodynamical and biochemical parameters as well as on survival in patients with ALF. Twenty patients treated with LV-TPE in addition to standard medical therapy (SMT) were identified and 1:1 matched to a historical ALF cohort treated with SMT only. Clinical and biochemical parameters were recorded at admission to the intensive care unit and the following 7 days after LV-TPE. Results: Mean arterial pressure increased following first LV-TPE treatments (d0: 68 [61-75] mm Hg vs d7: 88 [79-98] mm Hg, P =.003) and norepinephrine dose was reduced (d0: 0.264 [0.051-0.906] μg/kg/min vs d3: 0 [0-0.024] μg/kg/min, P =.016). Multi-organ dysfunction was significantly diminished following LV-TPE (CLIF-SOFA d0: 17 [13-20] vs d7: 7 [3-11], P =.001). Thirty-day in-hospital survival was 65% in the LV-TPE cohort and 50% in the SMT cohort (Hazard-ratio for TPE: 0.637; 95% CI: 0.238-1.706, P =.369). Conclusions: Patients treated with LV-TPE showed improved surrogate parameters comparable with the effects reported with HV-TPE. These data need to be interpreted with caution due to their retrospective character. Future controlled studies are highly desirable.