Therapeutic plasmapheresis in geriatric patients: favorable results.

Therapeutic plasma exchange is generally a tolerable procedure, although several complications should be considered. Since geriatric population has been growing worldwide, the aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze 4709 TPE data from 981 geriatric procedures (20.8%) and to compare them with 3728 non-geriatric procedures (79.2%). The most common indications for TPE in both groups were sepsis/adult respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ dysfunction. In geriatric patient group, contrary to expectations of aggravation, complication rate was statistically similar with non-geriatric group (P > 0.05). Therefore, TPE appeared to be a safe procedure in geriatric patients when performed by experienced practitioners.