I had mine done inpatient but that was because I had it during a crisis. They do run it both inpatient and outpatient here. The time it takes depends on your height/weight, mine was about 45 minutes per treatment and I had 5 days of one a day. Another fellow who was in the same area as me had it done for a different condition, but he was 3 hours a pop.
It is "risky" in that it is a blood product (but so is IV IG).
The people who do it outpatient here get early morning/noonhour/afterhours so they can continue to work if they do work while undergoing treatment.
If you're going to get a one-off you'll get a set of stents (two big needles with hose connections about the size of McDonald's straws) put in your neck down to some large arteries in your chest. If you're setup for long term plasmapheresis you'll be setup with a port or shunt in your chest with a semi-permanent connection, kind of like dialysis patients.
Normally they say it takes 3-5 treatments to see results. I saw definite improvement after the first treatment when I had it done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leaningin
I'm interested in hearing from any of you who have received Plasma Pheresis for your MG. Is it done inpatient or outpatient? How long does it take? Is it considered risky? What was the recovery time i.e. time away from work? I've had three IVIG treatments and each one was less effective than the last. My Neuro is telling me that the only bullet left in the gun is Plasa Pheresis. Any info. you can provide would be much appreciated.
|