| [ Summary ] |
Apheresis treatment for removing pathological molecules from the blood can be traced to the 17th century practice of blood letting. Early in the 20 th century, Abel et al. introduced apheresis as an experimental treatment, using modern medical technology. Since that time, the development of extracorporeal technology, a pheresis has been used for the treatment of various immunological disorders and intractable diseases and its clinical benefits have been reported. The development of a plasma separator, a plasma fractionator, and a plasma absorber and other related medical equipment have contributed to remarkable improvements in apheresis treatment. In the future, the etiology of various intractable diseases will be more clearly defined and the indications for apheresis treatment will be determined. Techniques for apheresis have improved from non-selective to selective modes, and from filtering to adsorption modes. Recently the novel DALI system for removing LDL cholesterol from whole blood has been developed, and a simple, direct hemoperfusion method will soon be recognized. |