Apheresis medicine in the era of advanced telehealth technologies: An American Society for Apheresis position paper Part I: Understanding the basic technologies and apheresis medicine practice models.

The wide spread availability and use of sophisticated high-speed telecommunication networks coupled with inexpensive and easily accessible computing capacity have catalyzed the creation of new tools and strategies for healthcare delivery. Such tools and strategies are of value to apheresis medicine (AM) practitioners if they improve delivery of patient care, enhance safety during a therapeutic apheresis (TA) intervention, facilitate care access, advance technical capabilities of apheresis devices, and/or elevate quality performance within TA programs. In the past several years, healthcare delivery systems' adoption of telecommunication technologies has been fostered by organizational financial and quality improvement objectives. More recently, adoption of telehealth technologies has been catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic as these technologies enhance both patient and provider safety in an era of social distancing. These changes will also influence the delivery of TA services which now can be generally viewed in a tripartite model format comprised of traditional hospital-based fixed site locales, mobile TA operations and lately an evolving telemedicine remote management model now reffered to as telapheresis (TLA). This communication developed by the Public Affairs and Advocacy Committee of the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) and endorsed by its Board of Directors, reviews and describes various aspects of established and evolving electronic technologies related to TLA and the practice of AM. In subsequent companion publications, additional aspects to TLA will be explored and ASFA's vision of reasonable, regulatory compliant and high-quality TLA practices will be expounded.

Plasmapheresis and intravenous immune globulin for the treatment of D alloimmunization in pregnancy.

The alloimmunized pregnancy can result in fetal and newborn mortality due to fetal anemia. Control of fetal anemia has not been possible until recently, and management consists of following the degree of fetal anemia during gestation until intrauterine transfusion is feasible to support the fetus until delivery. Cordocentesis and intrauterine transfusion have potential complications that have been well documented. Control of fetal anemia via immune modulation utilizing plasmapheresis and intravenous immune globulin administration has been attempted alone and in combination with varying results. We present a case report of an Rh(D) alloimmunized pregnancy, in which successful management consisted of initial therapeutic plasmapheresis (TPE) followed by intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) administration until delivery at 37 weeks gestation without the need for intrauterine transfusion.

Mobilization and collection of peripheral blood progenitor cells for transplantation.

Bone marrow transplantation gradually expanded as a treatment modality for various malignant and non malignant disease conditions. Since the discoveries of the potential of Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cells (PBPC) in the hematopoietic reconstitution mid 1980s and early 1990s PBPC gradually replaced bone marrow as the preferred source of stem cells. The introduction of hematopoietic cytokines that can mobilize large number of progenitors into circulation accelerated PBPC usage. Technological advancements in the apheresis instrumentation greatly helped in the conversion from marrow to PBPC. PBPC collection is less painful, less expensive and transplant with PBPC results in faster hematological recovery than with marrow. Almost all of the autologous transplants are currently performed with PBPC and a similar trend is seen with the allogeneic transplants. The progenitor cell mobilization regimen for autologous patients can be cytokines alone or cytokines combined with chemotherapy. In the majority of the patients the required minimal cell dose of 2.5-5.0 x 10(6)/kg CD34+ cells can be collected in one or two apheresis collections. A few of autologous transplant patients who mobilize poorly require several collections. Allogeneic donors are generally mobilized with daily subcutaneous injections of G-CSF 10 microg/kg for 5 days. The PBPC are collected in one or two apheresis procedures. The side effects of G-CSF are generally mild to moderate; however rare serious reactions including rupture of the spleen have been reported. The collection of PBPC in pediatric patients poses additional challenges yet an adequate dose of cells can be collected with the available apheresis instrumentation. The apheresis collection procedures are safe with no serious adverse consequences. Future scientific advancements may expand the use of PBPC for other clinical application in addition to the current use for hematological reconstitution.