Letter to the editor
Infusion of Convalescent Plasma is associated with Clinical
Improvement in Critically Ill Patients With Covid-19: A Comment
1Department of Community Medicine, “Dr DY Patil”
University, Pune, India
Dear Editor,
I would like to share ideas on the publication by Olivares-Gazca et al.1, titled: Infusion of convalescent plasma
is associated with clinical improvement in critically ill patients with COVID-19: A
pilot study. The authors stated that “although other treatments were also
administered to the patients and as a result data are difficult to interpret, it seems
that the addition of CoPla improved pulmonary function1.” In fact, it is possible that convalescent plasma therapy might be useful
in management of the COVID-19 patients. However, it requires a good plasma preparation
and there is a controversial issue on the possible unwanted effect of this mode of
treatment2. The persistence of viral particle
in some patients recovered from illness is a big issue to be mentioned and there is
still no clinical studies to verify whether the contaminated plasma in that case can
cause problem to the patient or not2,3. Of interest, the present report from
Olivares-Gazca et al. can give preliminary data for a short-term safety1. Nevertheless, it still requires further follow-up
in a larger group to verify long-term effect. During the COVID-19 crisis, we usually
seek and use for new treatment, but we should not forget to think about the safety.
Regarding plasma therapy, it still requires more collective data to verify the efficacy
and safety.
REFERENCES
1. Olivares-Gazca JC, Priesca-Marín JM, Ojeda-Laguna M,
Garces-Eisele J, Soto-Olvera S, Palacios-Alonso A, et al. Infusion of
convalescent plasma is associated with clinical improvement in critically ill
patients with covid-19:a pilot study. Rev Invest Clin.
2020;72:159-64.
[ Links ]
2. Wiwanitkit V. Convalescent plasma therapy in the treatment of
COVID-19:some considerations:correspondence. Int J Surg.
2020;80:26.
[ Links ]
3. Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Convalescent plasma and covid-19 treatment.
Minerva Med. 2020;[Epub ahead of print].
[ Links ]
The letter by Professor Viroj Wiwanitkit is very much appreciated. It refers to our
paper in a small subset of patients in whom both efficacy and safety issues were
addressed after infusing COVID-19 convalescent plasma to COVID-19 patients1; safety concerns are raised by him. Very
recently, a study by Mayo Clinic physicians2
about the experience in more than 5000 patients that received convalescent plasma as
part of the Food and Drug Administration Expanded Access Program informed serious
adverse effects in <1%. Accordingly, safety issues with the use of convalescent
plasma therapy seem to be properly settled down. This study, which is currently in
press2, suggests that convalescent plasma
therapy in COVID-19 patients appears to be a safe procedure. Thank you for your
interest in our study.
REFERENCES
1. Olivares-Gazca JC, Priesca-Marín JM, Ojeda-Laguna M,
Garces-Eisele J, Soto-Olvera S, Palacios-Alonso A, et al. Infusion of
convalescent plasma is associated with clinical improvement in critically
ill patients with covid-19:a pilot study. Rev Invest Clin.
2020;72:159-64.
[ Links ]
2. Willis VC, Arriaga Y, Weeraratne D, Reyes F, Jackson GP. A
narrative review of emerging therapeutics for COVID-19. Mayo Clin Proc Innov
Qual Outcomes. 2020;[Epub ahead of print].
[ Links ]
Copyright: © 2020 Revista de Investigación
Clínica.