Table 2. Overview of publications on therapeutic plasma exchange in acute multiple sclerosis relapse.
| Author | Year | Journal | Study design | Number of MS patients | Relevant results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weinshenker et al. | 1999 | Annals of Neurology | Prospective, randomized | 12 | Marked to moderate improvement in 42.1% of CNS-IDD patients after PLEX versus. 5.9% after sham. | 15 |
| Keegan et al. | 2002 | Neurology | Retrospective | 22 | Marked to moderate improvement in 41% of the patients. Early initiation of therapy was associated with greater improvement. | 16 |
| Keegan et al. | 2005 | Lancet | Retrospective | 19 | MS patients with pattern-II pathology are more likely to respond favorably to PLEX than patients with patterns I or III. | 23 |
| Llufriu et al. | 2009 | Neurology | Retrospective | 23 | Improvement in 52% MS patients in 6 months of follow-up. Early initiation of PLEX was a predictor of a good response. | 3 |
| Trebst et al. | 2009 | Blood Purification | Prospective | 20 | Marked to moderate improvement in 76% of patients with optic neuritis and in 87.5% of patients with relapse other than optic neuritis. | 18 |
| Habek et al. | 2010 | Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis | Retrospective | 4 | Marked to moderate improvement in 75% of the patients. | 21 |
| Magaña et al. | 2011 | Archives of Neurology | Retrospective | 55 | Marked to moderate improvement in 62% of the patients. Shorter disease course was associated with a favorable PLEX outcome. | 6 |
| Brunot et al. | 2011 | Presse Medicale | Retrospective | 15 | Early initiation of PLEX was a predictor of a good response. | 45 |
| Ehler et al. | 2014 | Therapeutic Apheresis and Dialysis | Retrospective | 11 | Improvement in 72.7% of IVMP-unresponsive CIS patients after PLEX. | 20 |
| Correia et al. | 2018 | Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders | Retrospective | 46 | Improvement with complete recovery according to the EDSS in 41.3% of the patients and partial in 39.1%. The subgroup of patients who experienced complete recovery according to the EDSS had the highest number of PLEX sessions. | 17 |
| Stork et al. | 2018 | JAMA Neurology | Retrospective | 69 | Both patterns I and II improved clinically after the PLEX treatment, but pattern II benefited the most. | 24 |
| Pfeuffer et al. | 2019 | Journal of Clinical Medicine | Retrospective | 66 | Good recovery at discharge was observed in 60.9% of the PLEX patients versus 15.2% of the IVMP patients. | 19 |
| Palacios-Mendoza et al. | 2020 | Neurological Sciences | Retrospective | 32 | Improvement in 59.4% of the patients at discharge and in 60.9% after 6 months. Early improvement with PLEX was a predictor of good response at 6 months of follow-up. | 38 |
| Blechinger S. | 2021 | Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders | Retrospective | 118 | Marked to moderate improvement in 78.8% of the patients. Early initiation of PLEX was a predictor of a good response. | 22 |
Abbreviations: CID, Clinically Isolated Syndrome; CNS-IDD, central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating diseases; EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; IVMP, intravenous methylprednisolone; MS, multiple sclerosis; PLEX, plasma exchange; Ref., reference.