Evaluating the Efficacy of Double-Filtration Plasmapheresis in Treating Five Patients With Drug-Resistant Pemphigus.

Abstract

Double-filtration plasmapheresis is an effective and safe treatment for pemphigus. We retrospectively evaluated the decrease in autoantibody titer and pemphigus disease area index following double-filtration plasmapheresis in five patients with moderate to severe pemphigus, who were physically and/or serologically unresponsive to 1.0mg/kg per day of prednisolone and other supportive drugs and ointments. The percentage reduction in autoantibodies 85.6±14.4% (P=0.00014), and that in pemphigus disease area index was 75.4±24.3% (P=0.0023). No side-effects were observed. All patients exhibited clinical improvement after undergoing double-filtration plasmapheresis, and the prednisolone dose was reduced by 41±8.9mg (P=0.0005) approximately 3months after double-filtration plasmapheresis. To our knowledge, this is the first report evaluating the efficacy of double-filtration plasmapheresis with pemphigus disease area index, and it demonstrated that double-filtration plasmapheresis is a safe "subtracting" treatment for patients with drug-resistant pemphigus.