Is anticoagulation required in plasmapheresis? A University Hospital Experience in Bogota, Colombia

Anticoagulation has been considered essential during plasmapheresis. International publications and guidelines state that anticoagulation should be administered during therapy to avoid circuit clotting and impaired effectiveness. However, anticoagulation has also been associated with bleeding, fluid and electrolyte imbalances and hematological alterations. No published studies have looked at the risk to benefit ratio of the common practice of circuit anticoagulation. We describe the experience with 367 plasmapheresis sessions, in the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, a tertiary care center in Bogota, Colombia, where no anticoagulation is used in any case. Patient characteristics and therapy complications are described. Coagulation of circuit was never reported.