Advances in haemapheresis, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1991 Proceedings of the Third International Congress of the World Apheresis Association. April 9–12,1990, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Developments in Hematology and Immunology Series, Vol. 25

The first International Meeting on Apheresis was held in Dyon in 1984. At the congress it became clear that both the technical and therapeutic sides developed very rapidly and it appeared fruitful to bring together the investigators of the different countries working in the areas. At that time immunology had come to pervade many clinical specialities, and hemapheresis, especially plasmapheresis was considered a therapeutic tool in many immunological diseases which hitherto had proved to be fatal. New methods to identify certain antibodies and circulating immune complexes in the serum and the possibilities to remove them from the blood by several techniques (filtration, centrifugation, immunoabsorp­ tion) led to an almost uncontrolled use of plasma exchange in a variety of diseases. Since then the technical possibilities of this technique were further recognized, as was the impact of immunology on many diseases, and the possibilities to collect specific components for therapeutic pur­ poses. But also we became aware of the limited contributions of anec­ dotal data on successes or failures of apheresis as adjuvant treatment. Therefore international prospective studies were initiated to make critical assessment possible of apheresis in various diseases.

I. Plasmapheresis: Centrifugation versus filtration.- Introductory remarks to the plenary symposium: Centrifugation versus filtration.- The advantages of centrifugation in therapeutic plasmapheresis.- High performance systems for membrane plasmapheresis.- Two year clinical experience using a rotating filter for therapeutic plasma exchange.- Donor plasmapheresis technology.- II. Plasmapheresis in neurology.- Plasma exchange in peripheral neuropathy.- Plasma exchange and Guillian-Barré syndrome.- Are immunoglobulins superior to plasma exchange in the Guillain-Barré syndrome?.- Plasmapheresis in neurological disorder.- Therapeutic strategies in multiple sclerosis: The value of plasma exchange.- IIIA. Stem cells: Technology and mobilization.- Autologous transplantation of blood versus marrow derived hemopoietic stem cells.- Granulocyte macrophage progenitor numbers in peripheral blood stem cell autotransplantation.- Purged autologous bone marrow: Better or worse than circulating stem cells?.- Bone marrow stem cells: Purification and clinical results.- Collection and transplantation of peripheral hemopoietic stem cells. Results in 35 patients with hematological and non- hematological malignancies.- IIIB. Stem cells: Clinical Application.- Peripheral blood stem cell transplants in myeloma.- High dose chemotherapy and blood stem cell autologous graft in multiple myeloma.- Stem cell harvesting from umbilical cord blood: A new perspective.- Circulating stem cells for autografting: A perspective for hematopoietic growth factors.- IV. In vivo versus ex vivo modulation of lymphocytes.- In vivo versus ex vivo modulation of lymphocytes; Immunotherapy for hematological malignancies.- The promise of T cell immunotherapy of cancer.- Photopheresis: A new approach to the management ofT-cell mediated disorders.- High levels of circulating hematopoietic progenitor cells after continuous infusion of high dose interleukin-2 in cancer patients.- V. Single versus multiple donor platelets.- Is leukocyte depletion important in the prevention of alloimmunization by random single donor platelet transfusion?.- UV-irradiation: Effects on the immune system and on platelet function, viability, and alloimmunization.- Purification of platelet concentrates by elutriation: Elutriated single versus pooled multiple donor platelets.- Platelet concentrates from buffy coats.- Selection of platelet apheresis donors for alloimmunized patients by ELISA platelet crossmatch versus HLA-matching.