Apheresis Core

Overview of Services

The Apheresis/ Infusion Unit, located on 3 White/Ravdin performs approximately 5,000 procedures per year on both inpatients and outpatients who suffer from a wide variety of disorders, such as hematologic, hemostatic, immunologic, oncologic, neurologic, and genetic, including leukemia and lymphoma, multiple myeloma, familial hypercholesterolemia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, multiple sclerosis, and myasthenia gravis.

Through the use of apheresis technology, apheresis specialists separate patient blood into its cellular and liquid fractions and, depending on the particular procedure, can either cleanse an individual's blood of harmful substance or harvest cells for the purpose of treating a disease. For example, by removing plasma ("plasma exchange") the Apheresis Unit treats a large number of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases such as myasthenia gravis (a neurological disorder), Goodpasture's syndrome (a kidney disorder), and TTP (a clotting disorder). Through the collection of peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells or mononuclear cells, apheresis can provide cellular material for performing hematopoietic stem cell transplants or for manufacturing novel cellular therapies chimeric antigen T cells (CAR-T), respectively.

Other procedures include removing elevated levels of white cells ("leukapheresis") to prevent neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary damage resulting from impeded blood flow that can be experienced by newly diagnosed leukemic patients (hyperleukocytic syndrome) or removing and exchanging patient red blood cells for donor red blood cells ("erythrocytapheresis") to prevent or treat pain and morbidity experienced by patients with sickle cell disease.

Location and hours of operation

Links and Resources

1. TRANSFUSION MEDICINE AND THERAPEUTIC PATHOLOGY UPenn Site

Contacts