Plasmapheresis for Preventing Complication of Hypertriglyceridemia

Severe hypertriglyceridemia is a common indication for the need of plasma exchange in treatment of hypertriglyceridemic-induced pancreatitis when normal therapies fail to garner a response. Application of plasmapheresis to prevent complication of hypertriglyceridemia is limited because of its cost and availability. We present a case of a 44-year-old man with metabolic syndrome and a medical history of secondary polycythemia in obesity hypoventilation syndrome, whose laboratory tests revealed a triglycerides value of 3965 mg/dL. To prevent the complication of pancreatitis due to hypertriglyceridemia, we performed plasma exchange 3 times when conventional treatments did not sufficiently reduce the high level of triglycerides. A review of the current available literature was therefore conducted to provide an overview of the present data on apheretic treatment for patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia. Several case reports and case series have used plasmapheresis in acute treatment of hypertriglyceridemia pancreatitis related. In our case, the choice of plasmapheresis was applied in prevention of possible complications of hypertriglyceridemia.