One of the first hospital in the state to administer plasma therapy to severely ill Covid-19 patients, the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida on Wednesday said that it has successfully treated 78 patients.
GIMS administered the experimental treatment first on May 9, 2020, and so far 54 recovered patients have donated plasma. Eight patients died despite being administered the therapy.
The hospital did not disclose how many patients were still undergoing the procedure.
“This is the largest number of case series of collecting plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients and patients receiving it in Uttar Pradesh,” said Brig (Dr) Rakesh Gupta, Director, GIMS.
Convalescent plasma therapy, in which antibody-rich plasma from recovered patients is injected into recovering individuals to help them stave off infection, has previously been used during the Sars and Mers outbreaks (which were also caused by viruses in the same family as the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19).
Plasma is a major component of a person’s blood, making up almost 55% of it. A plasmapheresis machine separates it from the blood and returns the rest -- the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets -- back into to the donor who typically supplies 300-500 ml of plasma, and the transfusion process takes between 60-90 minutes. Although promising, the effectiveness of the treatment is still in the experimental stage and is allowed to be administered only in severely ill patients.
“From early May to 21 July, 62 patients aged 19 to 53 years-old volunteered for screening and plasmapheresis, of which procedure was deferred in 12 donors for various reasons, ranging from anaemia, to lack of prominent vein suitable for undertaking procedure and uncontrolled hypertension. Two donors had undergone the procedure twice,” said Dr. Shalini Bahadur, associate professor of pathology and blood bank in-charge, GIMS. The eight patients who died had comorbidities (which complicated their illness).”
{{/usCountry}}“From early May to 21 July, 62 patients aged 19 to 53 years-old volunteered for screening and plasmapheresis, of which procedure was deferred in 12 donors for various reasons, ranging from anaemia, to lack of prominent vein suitable for undertaking procedure and uncontrolled hypertension. Two donors had undergone the procedure twice,” said Dr. Shalini Bahadur, associate professor of pathology and blood bank in-charge, GIMS. The eight patients who died had comorbidities (which complicated their illness).”
{{/usCountry}}According to the doctors while they try to maintain at least four bags of Plasma for each blood group – each containing 200ml while a patient of moderate Covid-19 symptoms is administered two bags, the current requirement is more.
“We are receiving promising results so far. However, there is need to formulate policies to retain, promote and motivate recovered symptomatic Covid-19 patients to come and donate their plasma to assist in recovery of the severely ill patients in need of this therapy. We keep calling up the recovered patients and also keep motivating them to donate, we need more volunteers,” said Brig RK Gupta.
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