Therapeutic RBC Exchange in a Patient with Severe Plasmodium Falciparum Infection.
- Author:
Donghee WHANG
1
;
Sunhee KIM
;
Jaehoon SONG
;
Daewon KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Clinical Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
malaria;
RBC exchange;
Plasmodium falciparum
- MeSH:
Acute Kidney Injury;
Drug Therapy;
Erythrocytes;
Humans;
Malaria;
Parasite Load;
Plasmodium falciparum*;
Plasmodium*
- From:Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
1997;8(1):147-151
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
With increasing travel to tropical area, the number of patients with imported malaria in this country is increasing. RBC exchange transfusion has proposed as a adjunct therapy for very severe falciparum malaria to reduce the parasite load rapidly. We report a patient with severe Plasmodium falciparum infection with 26% of erythrocyte parasitized, treated with RBC exchange transfusion in addition to conventional chemotherapy. The exchange of 1200 mL of red blood cells was carried out with 7 packed red cells using automatic cell separator. This patients recovered from his disease despite respiratory distress syndrome and acute renal failure. We conclude that RBC exchange is a useful adjunct to conventional chemotherapy and should be considered in patients with severe and complicated falciparum malaria.