Tolerance and complications of therapeutic plasma exchange by centrifugation: A single center experience

Introduction Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) constitutes an important therapy for hematological, neurological, immunological, and nephrological diseases. Most studies have focused on efficacy, whereas tolerance and complications during sessions have been less well studied and not recently. Material and methods We conducted a single center retrospective study of all patients who underwent TPE between 2011 and 2018. TPE sessions using the centrifugation technique were performed by dedicated trained nurses. Specific side effects were identified through surveillance forms completed contemporaneously. The primary outcome was the rate of all‐type adverse effects that occurred during the TPE sessions. Results In total, 1895 TPE sessions performed on 185 patients were analyzed. At least one adverse effect was reported for 805 sessions (42.5% [29.9%‐70.1%]), corresponding to 171 patients (92.4% [87.6%‐95.8%]). Hypotension occurred during 288 sessions (15.2%), was asymptomatic in 95.8% of cases, and more frequent with the use of 4% albumin than fresh frozen plasma (FFP) (19.8 vs 8.9%, P