Pulsed Plasma Exchange (PPE) treatments must be continued indefinitely
Currently, there are about a dozen systemic sclerosis patients on the pulsed plasma exchange (PPE) protocol described in this document: http://sclerodermainfo.org/pdf/TPE-Guidelines-US.pdf. Some have been on the protocol for years and others are just starting. I presented a research poster on four long-term patients with limited systemic sclerosis at a medical conference this past May. That is discussed in another post. The purpose of this post is to document that PPE, like all treatment approaches used [...]
The Effects of Pulsed Therapeutic Plasma Exchange on Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Limited Systemic Sclerosis: A Case Series
I am currently (5/6/2022) at the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) annual meeting in Philadelphia presenting a poster titled "The Effects of Pulsed Therapeutic Plasma Exchange on Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Limited Systemic Sclerosis: A Case Series" [1]. (The abstract of the poster is at the end of this post.) Six years ago, at this same conference, I presented an early version of the comprehensive review on the use of therapeutic plasma exchange as a treatment [...]
ANA and Antibody Testing in Systemic Sclerosis: A Guide for Patients
On Saturday, May 15th, I did a presentation and follow-up Q&A session to a joint meeting of several Scleroderma Foundation chapters on a very important, but complex topic – ANA and antibody testing in systemic sclerosis. While much of this information is on the Scleroderma Education Project website, this presentation contains updated and additional information that we have not published before. (The information on the website will be updated this summer.) I was very fortunate [...]
ANA Titer and Antibody Quick Survey
Quick Survey – ANA Titers in SSc Patients While this is not widely known, some antibodies that are specific to the systemic sclerosis family of diseases tend to have high ANA titers and others much lower ANA titers. Note that there are certainly many exceptions. We are conducting a quick (five question), anonymous survey to see if there is any clear tendency for some antibodies to be associated with higher or lower antibody levels. I [...]