The JSFA clinical practice guideline for therapeutic apheresis

Abstract

The American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) first issued its guidelines in 2007, which have been repeatedly revised thereafter until the latest edition in 2019. In the US, a centrifugal separation method is mainly used for apheresis, while the mainstream procedure in Japan is the membrane separation method. Due to these differences, directly adopting ASFA guidelines in Japanese practice would create various problems. We decided to prepare the Japanese Society for Apheresis (JSFA) clinical practice guidelines for therapeutic apheresis, and published “The JSFA clinical practice guidelines for therapeutic apheresis” in the summer of 2021. The guidelines cover 86 diseases in nine specialties : emergency medicine, hematology, collagen diseases/rheumatology, pulmonology, cardiovascular medicine, gastroenterology, neurology, nephrology, and dermatology. In addition, plasma diafiltration (PDF) using membrane technology was discussed as a new therapeutic tool.