Transfusion of convalescent plasma from patients with covid-19

Abstract

There is currently no vaccine available and no specific medication against Coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). The treatment is mainly based on support measures. In this context, several potentially useful therapies have been approved for use in clinical trials, such as convalescent plasma transfusion (CPT). PubMed was searched for studies on convalescent plasma and COVID-19, SARS or MERS. Studies on clinical efficacy in diseases caused by other coronaviruses (SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) showed clinical improvement, increase of neutralizing antibodies, decreased mortality and absence of adverse events during and after treatment. We found 13 studies on this type of treatment used in patients with severe and critical COVID-19. Despite limitations regarding methodology, number of patients and the protocols for the analysis of donors’ convalescent plasma, patients who received CPT showed clinical improvement, improvement of ventilatory patterns, resolution of lung injuries, decreased mortality, improvement of laboratory parameters, increase of neutralizing antibodies, decreased viral load and low frequency of adverse events.