Effect of the plasma exchange and immunoadsorption in children with severe systemic lupus erythematosus: a comparative study

Abstract

Objective To compare the treatment response of plasma exchange and immunoadsorption for children suffering from severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and then find the more advan-tageous treatment method. Methods Between March 2007 and March 2013, 27 children with severe SLE were collected from the Department of Pediatric Nephrology and Rheumatology of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. Part of them about 11 children accepted plasma exchange treatment (plasma exchang group) and the others accepted immunoadsorption (immunoadsorption group). The clinical features, ANA, IgG, serum ions, the cost of treatment and the hospitalization time were reviewed, and the comparative analysis were performed in two groups. Results There were comparabilities between plasma exchange group and immunoadsorption group in age, gender, couse of disease and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score before treatment. (1) In plasma exchang group, 11 children were conducted 26 times treatment. The SLEDAI score significantly decreased after plasma exchange (19.00±3.77 vs 5.34±4.35, P 0.05]. Conclusion The treatment both plasma exchange and immunoadsorption were effective methods for the children with severe SLE. However, the cost of plasma exchange was much higher and had a great influence on the concentration of antihypertensive drugs. Key words: Systemic lupus erythematosus; Plasma exchange; Immunoadsorption