According to the sources, around 200 cases of successful plasmapheresis have been reported worldwide to date. However, for the first time in Paras Hospital, Gurugram has been able to bring an epileptic patient alive using the process of plasmapheresis.
This procedure of the treatment involves withdrawing blood, separating it into plasma and cells, and then transfusing the cells back into the bloodstream of the patient. It is rarely used in epileptic patients but in this case, the doctors decided to proceed with the treatment as the patient had been experiencing recurrent epileptic seizures for the past three days and his respiration and brain functions were becoming compromised that was putting him in grave danger of death.
The 40-year-old, Paramjeet is a resident of Bhiwadi and had no history of epilepsy, however, he began showing some symptoms in April. The indications began with a fever and headache that progressed to seizures later. His family had lost their hopes of his survival as he was brought lifeless when referred to the hospital on April 8, 2022.
The doctors believed that this was caused by an autoimmune condition. In the beginning, he received three plasmapheresis cycles for a week and this treatment improved his brain function along with his respiratory system and other organs. On May 13, 2022, he was discharged from the hospital.
Commenting on this case, Dr. Rajnish Kumar, HOD of the Department of Neurology, Paras Hospital, Gurugram, said, “We’ve seen many epileptic patients die as a result of misdiagnosis or inadequate treatment. We decided to proceed with plasmapheresis after seeing that the patient was not responding to treatment. Fortunately for Paramjeet and us, the treatment worked.”
As per various reports, the treatment is considered costly and may go up to 2000 USD per session abroad. However, due to the cost factor, many charitable organisations support the expenses of patients in India. Discussing the expenses of the treatment, the parents of Paramjeet told The Daily Guardian, “This treatment cost them around Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh which was more affordable than other treatments.” Another case came up in 2018 where 13-year-old Yash, a resident of Gir-Somnath district, had to undergo plasmapheresis due to his kidney failure. The entire cost of treatment was more than Rs 25 lakh and was covered under the school health program.
‘Plasmapheresis is a term used to refer to a broad range of procedures in which extracorporeal separation of blood components results in a filtered plasma product. The filtering of plasma from whole blood can be accomplished via centrifugation or the use of semipermeable membranes.’