Does plasma exchange improve clinical outcomes in a patient with primary autoimmune autonomic failure?
Plasma exchange may provide dramatic clinical improvement in patients with severe autoimmune autonomic failure associated with ganglionic acetylcholine receptor antibodies.
We report on a patient with long-standing severe autonomic failure that affected his sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Antibodies against the ganglionic acetylcholine receptors were detected in the serum. Removal of the antibodies by means of plasma exchange resulted in a dramatic clinical improvement.
Schroeder et al. (Wed,) studied this question.