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A preliminary analysis of an ongoing study of 300+ Covid-19 patients suggests that convalescent plasma therapy is effective, according to Houston Methodist network of hospitals, where the patients were treated. The results of the preliminary analysis are published in The American Journal of Pathology.
On March 28, Houston Methodist became the first academic medical centre in the United States to infuse critically ill Covid-19 patients with plasma donated from recovered patients. Since then, researchers have used the treatment on 350 patients. The study tracked severely ill Covid-19 patients admitted to Houston Methodist’s system of eight hospitals from March 28 through July 6. Read in Tamil
The analysis measures medical effectiveness of the treatment. It offers scientific evidence that transfusing critically ill Covid-19 patients with high antibody plasma early in their illness — within 72 hours after hospitalisation proving most effective — reduced the mortality rate.
Those treated early with plasma that has the highest concentration of anti-Covid-19 antibodies, the research found, are more likely to survive and recover than patients who were not treated with convalescent plasma. The research excluded patients with a history of severe reactions to blood transfusions, those with underlying uncompensated and untreatable end-stage disease, and patients with fluid overload or other conditions that would increase the risk of plasma transfusion.
Source: Houston Methodist
