Plasma exchange therapy and COVID‐19

Dear Editor,

I would like to share ideas on the publication “Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Therapy Support for Critical COVID‐19: A Case Report”. ¹ Hua et al. presented their interesting experience. ¹ In their cases, there are several alternative therapeutic managements by several drugs and plasma exchange therapy. ¹ Whether the therapeutic effect is a result of drugs, plasma exchange therapy or self‐limitation is an interesting question. The severe clinical problem in COVID‐19 is partially due to immunopathogenesis with a similar immunopathology to another well‐known disease, dengue. Sometimes, both diseases might be difficult to differentially diagnose.1, 2 In dengue, the self‐limitation can occur and plasma exchange therapy does not provide an advantage. ³ Considering the present plasma exchange therapy, it might or might not be effective for reducing pathogens and unwanted immunoreactive biosubstances in blood. Further studies on the effectiveness of plasma exchange for the new disease is required.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.