This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
First patients receiving convalescent plasma transfusions
NHS Blood and Transplant has supplied the first units of convalescent plasma to hospitals and the first transfusions have taken place.
Currently, 14 units have been supplied to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. The first transfusions have now been carried out though the effectiveness of plasma treatment will not be known until the trial finishes.
The initial transfusions will be done through the ongoing international REMAP-CAP trial, which was created to evaluate a number of treatment options simultaneously.
Gail Miflin, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We’re delighted the first patients are receiving convalescent plasma transfusions thanks to the generosity of our donors. We’re carrying out a clinical trial to see how effective transfusions are and we wish every patient well. Several hospitals are already taking part and this number will quickly grow as more people become eligible to donate plasma.
“Plasmapheresis donation is new to NHSBT but we’re quickly increasing appointments and we’ve taken more than 400 donations so far. We’re rapidly building collection capacity so that if our trial shows the transfusions are effective, we can supply hospitals at a large scale. We are collecting in nine cities at the moment and we’re expanding to all 23 of our donor centres, and some new venues in large cities.”
Convalescent plasma is the antibody rich plasma of people who have recovered from coronavirus, which can be given to people who are struggling to develop an immune response to overcome the illness. The trial will investigate whether plasma transfusions could improve a coronavirus patient’s speed of recovery and chances of survival.
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