German Haemapheresis Centre

and

German Apheresis Research Centre

Introduction

Haemapheresis practises the mechanically supported separation of blood into its components, mainly:

• Red blood cells (erythrocytes)
• White blood cells (leucocytes)
• Platelets
• Blood fluid (plasma) and plasma constituents.

For blood separation centifugal systems are usually used, but filters are also available. We differ between a primary separation, where blood cells are separated from the plasma and a secondary separation for further separation of cells or fractionation of plasma proteins. These separated blood components can either be used for transfusion medicine or are helpful in treatments of ophthalmology, surgery, dermatology, ear, nose, and throat medicine, general medicine, neurology, orthopaedics, etc.

During blood separation a blood donor or a patient is directly connected to the separation system.The blood is allowed to pass into the separation device (centrifugal system or filtre) for primary separation with sufficient anticoagulation. The separated blood component can either be collected for the use in transfusion medicine or can be processed furthermore for second-line separation (e.g. LDL-apheresis = blood purification for a specific elimination of LDL-cholesterol).