Plasma exchange in patients with acute and acute-on-chronic liver failure: A systematic review
Eunice Xiang‐Xuan Tan, Min-Xian Wang, Junxiong Pang, Guan Huei Lee
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Acute liver failure (ALF) and acute-on-chronic liver (ACLF) carry high short-term mortality rate, and may result from a wide variety of causes. Plasma exchange has been shown in a randomized control trial to improve survival in ALF especially in patients who did not receive a liver transplant. Other cohort studies demonstrated potential improvement in survival in patients with ACLF. AIM: To assess utility of plasma exchange in liver failure and its effect on mortality in patients who do not undergo liver transplantation. METHODS: PubMed, and EMBASE were searched and relevant publications up to 30 March, 2019 were assessed. Studies were included if they involved human participants diagnosed with liver failure who underwent plasma exchange, with or without another alternative non-bioartificial liver assist device. RESULTS: < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The level of evidence for use of high volume plasma exchange in selected ALF cases is high. Plasma exchange in ACLF improves survival at 30-and 90-d in non-transplanted patients. Further well-designed randomized control trials will need to be carried out to ascertain the optimal duration and amount of plasma exchange required and assess if the use of high volume plasma exchange can be extrapolated to patients with ACLF.