What is Plasma Therapy?

Plasma therapy, also known as “convalescent plasma therapy” is a form of treatment that uses blood from people who've recovered from an illness or infection to help others recover. 

The plasma of this blood will contain antibodies that can help patients suffering from the same disease. This will then help them fight off the viruses or other pathogens that are affecting their immune system. This can help speed up their recovery and ease their symptoms.

In plasma therapy, blood is donated by people who have recovered from an illness. This blood will have antibodies to the virus or other pathogens that caused it. 

This donated blood is processed to remove blood cells, leaving behind just the liquid part (plasma) and the antibodies. The plasma is then injected into patients currently suffering from the same disease to help them fight off the pathogens causing their illness.

Convalescent plasma therapy is usually very safe and is commonly used to treat:

• All kinds of allergic reactions
• Conditions that cause lung damage and difficulty breathing
• Infections such as HIV, as well as hepatitis B and C

Plasma therapy was initially recommended in the treatment of Covid-19 patients as it was seen to shorten the hospitalization time of patients when administered within the first two to three days of symptom onset. And then it was to be administered only in a hospital setting. 

Like other plasma therapies, blood plasma was taken from people who had recovered from Covid-19 (and thus had antibodies to the virus). The blood was processed, and the plasma was given to people with COVID-19 to boost their ability to fight the virus.

However, healthcare experts maintained that plasma therapy for Covid-19 was not effective in reducing the progression to severe disease or death in patients. They also found that "indications have arisen of the possibility that its use in some cases could foster the emergence of more virulent strains of Sars-CoV-2". (Livemint)

Other international trials also found no benefits from plasma therapy, and they too held that unchecked use of plasma to treat Covid-19 patients could lead to new mutations in the virus.

Eventually, on May 17, 2021, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) dropped the use of convalescent plasma from the updated recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19.

Since doctors and hospitals aren’t bound by these recommendations, it is useful to know the effectiveness and risks associated with plasma therapy in Covid treatment. 

Effectiveness:

A number of clinical trials have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19. These include ICMR’s PLACID trial in India, the Recovery trial in the UK, and the PlasmAr trial from Argentina. 

All these trials had similar outcomes. They all found that plasma therapy made no difference in mortality or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital.

Risks:

The potential risks and side-effects of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 include:

• Allergic reactions 
• Transfusion-associated circulatory overload
• Transfusion-associated acute lung injury
• Worsening of immune-related tissue damage 
• Transfusions of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies leading to new variants

While convalescent plasma might be effective if the treatment is received within 72 hours of the first onset of symptoms, unfortunately, few Covid-19 patients are hospitalized in the first few days after their symptoms start. 

The Indian government and the ICMR dropped the use of convalescent plasma from its guide for COVID-19 treatment. This was due to the fact that it was found not to be beneficial in the majority of cases reducing the progression to severe disease or death. Also, there was the risk of more virulent strains developing when plasma therapy is administered in critical cases with.