Apheresis is a procedure in which blood is removed from the body. It is generally performed to remove harmful substances from the blood or from a component of the blood. The blood withdrawal procedure is performed by placing a catheter into the patient?s vein. The catheter is connected to a machine that draws the blood out and then separates it into red blood cells, white blood cells, and plasma. This allows to extract any pathogenic (the body harming) components from the patient. After this removal the now ?clean? blood can be returned to the body.

Different methods of the therapeutic apheresis may be applied:

• In the non-selective plasmapheresis, it is the plasma that is separated from the blood, discarded in total, and replaced with a substitution fluid from a healthy person.

• In the selective plasmapheresis, the pathogenic parts of the plasma are separated out by using filtration or adsorption; the ?cleaned? plasma can then be returned to the patient.

Our clinics apply the following methods:

• Plasmapheresis

• LDL-Apheresis (H.E.L.P.-System)

• Immunadsorption

• MARS-System

All machines used for these methods are produced by the companies Braun or Diamed.