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Also known as: red cell exchange apheresis, red cell exchange, therapeutic erythrocytapheresis.
Apheresis therapy is a medical procedure that’s used to remove certain blood components when problems exist. Red cell exchange involves removing problematic red blood cells from the blood. It’s often used as a treatment for sickle cell disease.
A needle or an IV and catheter are used to draw blood from the patient. Then the blood is placed in a machine that separates the blood into its different components. The red blood cells are discarded and replaced with donor red blood cells. Then the blood is placed back into the patient’s body.
No special preparation is needed for apheresis therapy: red cell exchange.
Discomfort and lightheadedness are possible side effects of apheresis therapy: red cell exchange.
Reviewed by: Balagangadhar Totapally, MD
This page was last updated on: December 18, 2020 02:25 PM
People who have sickle cell C disease have abnormal hemoglobin (both hemoglobin S and hemoglobin C). This hemoglobin doesn’t flow through the blood vessels as smoothly as normal hemoglobin and can cause a number of complications.
Sickle cell disease is a group of familial red blood cell disorders. Sickle cell disease causes the red blood cells to be oddly shaped, and have difficulty flowing through the blood vessels properly which causes them to break up easily resulting in anemia and damage to the organs.
Therapeutic plasma exchange involves removing problematic plasma from the blood.
The body’s T cells are a type of white blood cell that can be used for treatments for a number of different diseases including cancer. The process of collecting these T cells is known as T cell collection by apheresis.