LAUSR

Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is an extracorporeal blood purification method with the aim to remove harmful circulating substances from the plasma [1]. Throughout the world, the usage of TPE is increasing [2]. The most frequent indications for TPE are Myasthenia gravis (MG), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), multiple sclerosis, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura with the haemolytic uremic syndrome (TTP/HUS) [1, 2]. This letter aimed to describe 13 years of experience in treating 250 patients with TPE in a University Hospital Centre. Pool of patients comprised from all the patients that underwent TPE at a regional University Hospital Centre from January 1, 2009. As a result, 263 patients were recruited up to the date of September 6, 2021. Excluded from the study were patients who did not have recorded medical diagnosis that required TPE treatment (13 patients). For each patient, included was sex, date of the TPE procedure, medical diagnosis that indicated the TPE procedure and hospital department where patient was hospitalized for the treatment of the underlying condition. From 2009 to 2021, total of 250 patients underwent a total of 2082 TPE procedures. The mean number of TPE procedures per patient was 8.33. The most common specialty that indicated TPE was neurology with 59.22% patients that have required total of 52.97% procedures. Internal medicine department had 28.8% patients that required 36.5% procedures while intensive care unit had 9.39% patients with 7.68% procedures. The three most frequent diagnosis were TTP/HUS, GBS, and MG with 15.33%, 36.4%, and 15.33% patients, respectively. Regarding procedures, 27.57% were performed for TTP/HUS, 27.47% for GBS, and 16.33% for MG. Other diagnosis included 37 different diseases which were indication for 28.63% of procedures from 32.94% patients (Table 1). Over the course of 13 years, we recorded 2082 TPE treatments done for 250 patients with 40 different indications. The most common diagnosis for TPE treatment was GBS with 36.4% patients and 27.47% of all procedures. It is also a