Therapeutic Plasmapheresis in Kidney Transplantation

In 1960’s, with succesfully renal transplantations, acute rejection became to be a serious problem for graft survival. From 1965 to 2010, with the introduction of new immunosuppressant agents such as cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetile and tacrolimus, the acute rejection rates declined from 80% to 10% . There is an ongoing gradual improvement in allograft survival. Use of Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is not evidence based treatment, but TPE is necessary for pre- and also post transplantation in patients with DSA. TPE is also a main treatment for antibody mediated rejection (AMR) , but in clinical practice the duration and frequency of TPE and individual difference of antibody production is unclear. There is a requirement for more specific antibody elimination. Further randomised controlled studies are needed to elucidate TPE use before and after kidney transplantation.