Plasma exchange in the management of high risk pregnant patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome. A report of 9 cases and a review of the literature

A second-line treatment protocol including plasma exchange (PE) in addition to the standard therapies was scheduled and utilized in our hospital with the intent of improving the outcome of high risk pregnancies of women with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). This paper chronologically reports and discusses the results obtained in these patients over a 15-year period. Between April 1991 and September 2006, 142 pregnancies of patients with APS were followed by us. Nine of these (6.3%), who did not respond to the conventional procedures or showed complications during the treatments were shifted to a PE protocol management. All these women had a history of previous thromboembolism associated to triple antiphospholipid antibody positivity. Nine pregnancies of 7 patients (2 women were treated twice) were thus followed using PE therapy, which has undergone modification over the years. In the cases studied the outcome of pregnancy varied according to the different PE therapy conditions. This study suggests that prophylactic PE treatment administered along with full anticoagulation and IVIG therapy could be a valuable therapeutic option in high risk pregnant APS women. Further studies in this type of patients are certainly warranted.