[Therapeutic apheresis in multiple sclerosis].

Therapeutic apheresis is divided in cytapheresis and plasmapheresis. And plasmapheresis(PP) is divided into three treatments, plasma exchange(PE), double filtration plasmapheresis(DFPP) and immunoadsorption plasmapheresis(IAPP). PE has been applied in the neuroimmunological disorders and the effectiveness of PP has been well established in some neuroimmunological disorders. In this article, PP treatment of multiple sclerosis(MS) was reviewed. PP is an effective means of removing the pathogenic immune-mediated factors, such as inflammatory cytokines, autoantibodies, immune complexes, and complements. PP may affect not only humoral immune responses but also cellular immune responses. Previous clinical reports suggested that PE might be effective in treating acute attacks of MS, but be no effective in patients with chronic progressive MS. IAPP may be superior to PE in the treatment of MS.