Utility of double filtration plasmapheresis in acute antibody mediated renal allograft rejection: Report of three cases

Plasmapheresis is an extracorporeal procedure, which is often employed to rapidly lower circulating titers of autoantibodies, immune complexes or toxins. There are two types of plasmapheresis namely, regular plasmapheresis (RPP) by centrifugation and membrane filtration, and double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) which is a special form of membrane filtration in which two membranes called as plasma separator and plasma fractionator are employed to filter macromolecules more selectively. DFPP have several advantages over RP. Despite widespread utilization of DFPP in the setting of ABO blood group incompatible kidney transplantation, there is no report regarding DFPP in patients with antibody mediated acute renal allograft rejection who are good candidates for beneficial effects of DFPP. Here we report three renal transplant recipients in whom DFPP was applied as a component of anti-rejection treatment regimen.