ASFA Issues Updated Recommendations

The American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) has issued updated recommendations on the use of therapeutic apheresis in clinical practice. Published in the Sixth Edition of the ASFA Special Issue, these evidence-based guidelines were developed by a committee of United States-based experts from transfusion medicine/apheresis, hematology/oncology, nephrology, and other relevant fields.  The updated guidelines include 78 diseases, each of which was assigned an indication category (I-IV) describing the role of apheresis therapy and a grade of recommendation (1A-2C) based on the quality of evidence available.

Reference

1.    Schwartz J, Winters JL, Padmanabhan A, Balogun RA, Delaney M, Linenberger ML, Szczepiorkowski ZM, Williams ME, Wu Y, Shaz BH. Guidelines on the use of therapeutic apheresis in clinical practice-evidence-based approach from the writing committee of the american society for apheresis: the sixth special issue. J Clin Apher 2013;28: 145-284.