Plasma exchange in neurology

Therapeutic plasmapheresis

Plasmapheresis is the process by which plasma containing components causing or thought to cause disease is removed from the circulation, and the remaining blood components are returned with plasma or a harmless plasma substitute to the donor. It primarily removes protein-bound solutes or high-molecular-weight solutes such as circulating protein-bound toxins, autoantibodies, immune complexes, or other abnormally occurring molecules. Plasmapheresis has been used in the treatment of more than 100 diseases in human medicine, including immune-mediated diseases, neoplasia, infectious diseases, sepsis, hyperlipidemia, thyrotoxicosis, and removal of toxins. In immune-mediated disease, it is most useful to rapidly decrease plasma concentrations of antibodies or immune complexes, whereas other immunosuppressive measures are used to prolong the effect.

A putative poststreptococcal case of OCD with chronic tic disorder, not otherwise specified

A 12-year-old girl presented with an atypical, recurrent, increasingly treatment-resistant case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic tic disorder associated with profound separation anxiety, learning difficulty, and intermittent upper respiratory symptoms. In addition to detailed reviews of history and findings from many clinical caretakers from the prior 7 years, current pediatric, psychiatric, neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and clinical laboratory data were also available. Treatment options were considered from multiple perspectives: psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy, conventional pharmacotherapy, family interventions, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and learning-supportive strategies. Psychological, neuropsychiatric, and neuroimmunological formulations of etiology were considered. Subsequent treatments included supportive psychotherapy, neuroleptic augmentation of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, prophylactic penicillin, and a course of six sessions of plasmapheresis over a 2-week period. The case raises questions for ongoing consideration that juxtapose dynamic, neuropsychiatric, and neuroimmunological perspectives.