Meitra Hospital Launches Apheresis Unit Across Kerala State

Blood Centre and Department of Transfusion Medicine at Meitra Hospital has started the Apheresis procedure at their Blood Centre. The hospital now joins the elite group of medical facilities which routinely offers this procedure. An invasive procedure, it entails removing whole blood of a donor or a patient and subsequently separating its individual components by centrifugation. The required individual component is isolated for use while the remaining components are re-introduced into the blood stream of the donor or the patient.

There are several uses of the procedure and at present it is commonly used for collection of platelets from a single donor and is known as Platelet Apheresis. The extracted component is equivalent to6 units of platelets prepared from whole blood donation, resulting in not just a higher quantity of product with good quality; but also preventing multiple donor exposure to patients as well. By this procedure, the donor can donate platelets 2 times a week. The traditional form of whole blood donation requires a gap of one month before a second donation from the same donor to collect platelets. 

Apheresis not only aids in the collection of cellular or plasma constituents from a donor, it can also harvest peripheral blood stem cells from the donors and patients, thereby circumventing extraction from the bone marrow. These stem cells are then used for bone marrow transplant for several blood disorders like in certain types of blood cancers. The procedure prevents wastage and increases the ability to facilitate production of optimal components as required by the patient. 

“Modern medicine has witnessed giant strides in transfusion medicine resulting in a growing demand for blood components. In addition, there is an increasing concern about safety issues. Apheresis is not only a viable, but also a preferred procedure in current medical practices. In fact, the technique has recently found a great application in isolating the plasma of a person who has been cured of COVID-19 to treat those who are in a life-threatening situation following COVID-19 infections. This procedure is known as convalescent plasma therapy.” informed Dr. P Mohanakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Meitra Hospital.

Some of the other conditions apart from COVID-19, where the procedure proves beneficial can be in Systemic Lupus, Severe Vasculitis, Chronic Autoimmune Polyneuropathy, Dengue, Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, Myasthenia Gravis, Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, Goodpasture’s Syndrome, Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Hyperviscosity Syndrome (such as mixed Cryoglobulinemia, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura), The HELLP Syndrome of Pregnancy, Clogging of blood vessels (Leukostasis) caused by severely elevated white blood count in Leukemia, andseverely elevated platelet counts in Leukemia or Myeloproliferative disorders as well as in cases of solid organ transplantation with a high risk of antibody-mediated rejection of the transplant.

Meitra Hospital aims to be at the fore front of the global best practices in healthcare as well as latest advancements. This is yet another step in the direction. Through this addition the facility aims to strengthen the medical care being currently offered not just in Kozhikode but also in the state of Kerala.