The Italian Sidem Registry for Apheresis: An Overview of the 2005 Statistics

Abstract

Data collection on apheresis activities in Italy throughout 2005 including techniques, types of blood cell separators, clinical indications and adverse effects was performed by means of a standardized questionnaire. These data provided by 83 Apheresis Units from 16 Italian regions, albeit rough, are sufficiently informative, mainly in comparison with previous surveys on these statistics (1997 and 2000). In 2005 a total number of 204,746 apheresis procedures were carried out, with a clear-cut prevalence of apheresis production (87.7%), performed by 66 out of 83 Apheresis Units (79.5). Lombardy, Veneto and Tuscany were the most active regions for therapeutic apheresis (51.1% of the total national procedures). An increasing number in extracorporeal photochemotherapy as compared to the 2000 national survey (3,386 vs. 704 procedures) is the most striking observation to emerge from the 2005 data collection on therapeutic apheresis in Italy. Adverse effects, predominantly mild ones (i.e., paresthesia due to citrate-induced hypocalcemia), occurred in 0.12% of apheresis production and 6.04 of therapeutic sessions, particularly in the course of peripheral blood stem cell collection (20.79%), as already reported in the 2000 national survey.

The Italian registry of pediatric therapeutic apheresis: A report on activity during 2005

“…The data of the 2005 SIdEM Registry of Apheresis [18] that was collected from 18 AUs has provided material permitting us to make some comparisons between pediatric and adult applications. In fact, it quickly became apparent that pediatric therapeutic apheresis represents an important portion of its whole range of activity.…”

“…Clinical indications reflect the distribution of oncohematological diseases according to age: mainly leukemia/ lymphoma and cerebral tumors in children and multiple myeloma in adults [18].…”

“…Just as in adults, plasma treatment in pediatric patients was found to be an infrequent procedure [18]. Protein A IA was used to remove IgG just in one center and LDL-apheresis was utilized in two centers to treat patients affected with homozygous or severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia who were not responding to standard pharmacotherapy.…”

“…As with data regarding adult apheresis [16][17][18], procedure-related complications were classified as mild, moderate, and severe and related to the main types of procedures.…”

“…Periodical surveys of apheresis activity have thus been carried out by the Italian Society of Hemapheresis and Cellular Manipulation (SIdEM) beginning in 1996 [16,17]. In 2005, when the last survey was carried out [18], the Italian Apheresis Units (AUs) were also requested to provide data on pediatric procedures, which was carried out during that year under their supervision.…”