The Effect of Plasma Exchange on Recovery of Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Plasma Exchange (PE) in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive pneumonia patients. Method: This study was a case series conducted at a referral hospital. Twenty SARS-CoV-2-positive patients had an oxygen saturation of 80-90%, and the respiratory rate above 30 per minute. These symptoms started 1 week after the onset of the disease. All patients had less than 90% oxygen saturation and needed respiratory support (oxygen therapy) treated with plasma exchange on 3-5 consecutive days during hospitalization. We followed the amount of oxygen saturation, which was in the form of increasing the patient's oxygen saturation above 90% without oxygen supply and above 92% without oxygen, improving shortness of breath and improving patients' clinical symptoms. Results: Our study included a total of 20 COVID-19 patients with an overall mean age of 48.9 ± 12.1 years (range: 39–58 years); 60% (n=12) were males, 34.5% of whom benefited from TPE sessions. On the third day after the treatment, shortness of breath improved in these patients. Oxygen saturation of any twenty patients increased before the procedure of plasma exchange. Clinical symptoms of all patients were decreasing shortness of breath and improving patients' clinical symptoms after the procedure. Conclusion: According to our observations, plasma exchange could not show a significant therapeutic effect in COVID-19 patients with severe lung involvement.