Plasmapheresis Treatment in Puerto Vallarta

What Is Plasmapheresis Treatment?

Plasmapheresis treatment, or plasma exchange, takes 2-3 hours to complete. The process removes active biotoxins and corrupted antibodies as well as debris of synthetic toxins, macro-molecules, circulating heavy metals, inflammatory cytokines and disease. Benefits include immediate relief of auto-immune symptoms and decreased systemic inflammation. One of the greatest advantages is removal of resilient substances which patients have not been able to eliminate on their own or with conventional approaches. This is often due to detox issues regardless of the origin (i.e. mutations, physical or metabolic obstructions).

In short, Plasmapheresis treatment takes out what the patient’s body can’t remove by normal detox avenues. According to the American Society of Apheresis in the July 2016 update, it is the first line of treatment for auto-immune diseases and some neurodegenerative diseases presumably originated by Lyme and co-infections… even outperforming IVIG and antibiotics in the majority of cases.

Therapeutic Apheresis

Therapeutic Apheresis can be used in extreme cases where there is a need immediate cleaning of plasma and blood. This option has been established by the European Association of Infectious diseases to be one of the primary treatments for chronic Babesia, and other blood, and plasma parasites, for its ability to filtrate and clean whole blood, even in the worst of cases. Apheresis is an effective method to immediately extract all infected cells in the blood, and exchange it for healthy donated blood, screened and free of disease. Therapeutic Apheresis eliminates symptoms after one session, especially in neurological and psychiatric affected cases such as acute neuro-borreliosis.

Extracorporeal Photopheresis

Extracorporeal Photopheresis, or ECP, is a cell-based immunomodulatory therapy that involves collecting leukocytes from peripheral blood. These cells are exposed to a protein-based photosensitizing agent, and then treated with ultraviolet (uv) radiation, after which they are re-infused. This procedure, which results in irreversible crosslinking of pyrimidine bases in DNA, produces massive apoptosis of the treated cells while at the same time optimizing humoral and cell mediated immune response by inducing cell maturation and differentiation.

The mechanism of action of ECP has been extensively explored and several studies have reported the following:

• Clearance of apoptotic cells by antigen-presenting cells results in differentiation of those cells into a more tolerogenic phenotype, leading to decreased stimulation of effector T cells or their deletion.
• Production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, especially interleukin 10, is increased.
• Production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially interleukin 12 and tnfα, is decreased.
• Generation of CD4+, CD25+, GITR+, Foxp3+, CD62L+ T-regulatory cells occurs.

It is of considerable interest that the T- and B-cell responses to novel and recall antigens remain intact in patients treated with ECP. Thus, there appears to be important activity against infections with the use of ECP as compared with the use of anti-microbials.

Red Cell Exchange

Red Cell Exchange is the current method recommended for people infected with blood borne parasites and some extreme cases of bacterial infiltration, such as Babesia and Bartonella respectively. This procedure has recently been internationally accepted as a first-line therapy, primary stand alone, or in conjunction with other modes of treatment. The procedure consists of diluting the percentage of pathogens in blood; it is a very effective method to aggressively eliminate parasite-infested cells in the blood by exchanging them simultaneously for healthy blood (screened, tested and free of disease). It has proven to get rid of symptoms after the first couple of sessions, especially in neurological/psychiatric cases with multiple or single strains of Babesia.

Plateletpheresis

Plateletpheresis for PRP (platelet rich plasma) is a procedure selected for the repair of injuries, such as those from physical exertion, chronic inflammation or disease. This procedure involves a collection of tens of thousands of platelets from the patient’s own blood creating an assembly of very large sums of specific proteins (called growth factors) with enormous abilities to heal and regenerate tissues. These growth factors are ultimately applied directly by the physician to damaged joints, tendons, muscle fibers, ligaments, fractures and even complex structures like vertebras. By growth factors effectively regenerating tissues, immediate relief to localized pain can be achieved by reducing the tension between the affected tissues and enhancing its structures; consequently, this can lead to patients being able to avoid surgery in most cases.

Blood Components Screening and Processing

Prior to cross matching donated blood, there is a screening process for a blood donor candidate. To begin with, the donor is required to be within a strict healthy candidate parameter the blood bank has created and the blood is always received altruistically — never with any form of gratuity to the donor. The blood then undergoes a strict serology panel which tests for current transmissible blood infections, such as Hepatitis, Syphilis, HIV, Chagas, and many more. After the unit has been certified, it is then tested by nucleic acids and then leuko-reduced, meaning that its filtered from any active white blood cells from the host.

Finally, it undergoes a pathogen reduction treatment before being administered. For this purpose, the blood is treated with UV light irradiation where it inactivates WBC (white blood cells), cytokine production expression, GVHD (graft-versus-host disease) and reduces virus, parasites and bacterias up to >6 logarithms (ie Rabies, West Nile, active HIV, Chikungunya, E. coli, S. epidermidis, K. pneumoniae, Lyme disease, Leishmaniasis, Babesia, Plasmodium falciparum, Malaria).

In addition to this, the blood used with our patients is mixed and rests with 70 gammas of concentrated ozone for 30 minutes prior to being used. There is ultimately no guarantee that even with the most rigorous of processing of these blood units that they will not transmit infection, that they will not be immunologically inactive or that the patient will receive it without a reaction. This is why it is crucial that patients discuss their case individually with the doctor to assess if it’s the right choice, especially considering the important risks. However, on a positive note, if the patient is a match for this procedure and all treatments go as planned, he or she may extraordinary benefits.

Granulocyte-Apheresis

Works by selectively removing main mediators of disease from the patient’s blood circulation — namely pro-inflammatory cytokines producing new granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages. Modulation of the immune system takes place and, as a result, there are less pro-inflammatory cytokines released, there is an increased production of anti-inflammatory interleukin-1 receptor antagonists, and the apoptosis of defective granulocytes is boosted. However, the number of these cells in circulation does not drop as a rapid mobilization of “new” naïve leukocytes occurs; therefore, a qualitative rather than a quantitative change occurs.