Convalescent plasma therapy in patients withCOVID-19

Abstract

There are currently no licensed vaccines or therapeutics for COVID-19. Anti-SARS CoV-2 antibody-containing plasmas, obtained from the recovered individuals who had confirmed COVID-19, have been started to be collected using apheresis devices and stored in blood banks in some countries in order to administer to the patients with COVID-19 for reducing the need of intensive care and the mortality rates. Therefore, in this review, we aim to point out some important issues related to convalescent plasma (CP) and its use in COVID-19. CP may be an adjunctive treatment option to the anti-viral therapy. The protective effect of CP may continue for weeks and months. After the assessment of the donor, 200-600 mL plasma can be collected with apheresis devices. The donation interval may vary between countries. Even though limited published studies are not prospective or randomized, until the development of vaccines or therapeutics, CP seems to be a safe and probably effective treatment for critically ill patients with COVID-19. It could also be used for prophylactic purposes but the safety and effectiveness of this approach should be tested in randomized prospective clinical trials.

C1 [Yigenoglu, Tugce Nur; Dal, Mehmet Sinan; Altuntas, Fevzi] Univ Hlth Sci, Ankara Oncol Training & Res Hosp, Dept Hematol, Ankara, Turkey.

[Yigenoglu, Tugce Nur; Dal, Mehmet Sinan] Univ Hlth Sci, Bone Marrow Transplantat Ctr, Ankara, Turkey.

[Hacibekiroglu, Tuba] Sakarya Univ, Sch Med, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Sakarya, Turkey.

[Berber, Ilhami; Erkurt, Mehmet Ali] Inonu Univ, Sch Med, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Malatya, Turkey.

[Basturk, Abdulkadir] Selcuk Univ, Sch Med, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Konya, Turkey.

[Namdaroglu, Sinem] Univ Hlth Sci, Bozyaka Training & Res Hosp, Dept Hematol, Izmir, Turkey.

[Korkmaz, Serdal] Univ Hlth Sci, Kayseri Training & Res Hosp, Dept Hematol, Kayseri, Turkey.

[Ulas, Turgay] Near East Univ, Sch Med, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Nicosia, Cyprus.

[Dal, Tuba] Ankara Yildirim Beyazit Univ, Sch Med, Dept Clin Microbiol, Ankara, Turkey.

[Turgut, Burhan] Namik Kemal Univ, Sch Med, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Tekirdag, Turkey.

[Altuntas, Fevzi] Ankara Yildirim Beyazit Univ, Div Hematol, Dept Internal Med, Sch Med, Ankara, Turkey.