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. 2021 Feb;60(1):102955.
doi: 10.1016/j.transci.2020.102955. Epub 2020 Sep 19.

Convalescent plasma therapy in patients with COVID-19

Fevzi Altuntas  1 , Naim Ata  2 , Tugce Nur Yigenoglu  3 , Semih Bascı  4 , Mehmet Sinan Dal  5 , Serdal Korkmaz  6 , Sinem Namdaroglu  7 , Abdulkadir Basturk  8 , Tuba Hacıbekiroglu  9 , Mehmet Hilmi Dogu  10 , İlhami Berber  11 , Kursat Dal  12 , Kerem Kınık  13 , İbrahim Haznedaroglu  14 , Fatma Meriç Yılmaz  15 , İsa Kılıç  16 , Sinan Demircioğlu  17 , Alper Yosunkaya  18 , Mehmet Ali Erkurt  19 , Burhan Turgut  20 , Murat Caglayan  21 , Osman Celik  22
Affiliations

Convalescent plasma therapy in patients with COVID-19

Fevzi Altuntas et al. Transfus Apher Sci. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Passive antibody therapy has been used to immunize vulnerable people against infectious agents. In this study, we aim to investigate the efficacy of convalescent plasma (CP) in the treatment of severe and critically ill patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Method: The data of severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients who received anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-containing CP along with the antiviral treatment (n = 888) and an age-gender, comorbidity, and other COVID-19 treatments matched severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients at 1:1 ratio (n = 888) were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: Duration in the intensive care unit (ICU), the rate of mechanical ventilation (MV) support and vasopressor support were lower in CP group compared with the control group (p = 0.001, p = 0.02, p = 0.001, respectively). The case fatality rate (CFR) was 24.7 % in the CP group, and it was 27.7 % in the control group. Administration of CP 20 days after the COVID-19 diagnosis or COVID-19 related symptoms were associated with a higher rate of MV support compared with the first 3 interval groups (≤5 days, 6-10 days, 11-15 days) (p=0.001).

Conclusion: CP therapy seems to be effective for a better course of COVID-19 in severe and critically ill patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Convalescent plasma; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest that could inappropriately influence the present study.

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