Convalescent plasma (kon-vuh-LES-unt PLAZ-muh) therapy is an experimental treatment, in which blood is drawn from a person who has recovered from the disease and the serum is separated and screened for virus-neutralizing antibodies.

When attacked by a pathogen, our immune systems produce antibodies and in this therapy the antibodies from recovered patients are used to treat patients with CORONAVIRUS. No drug has been proved to be safe and effective for treating COVID-19 Virus.

But, patients who have recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies — proteins the body uses to fight off infections — to the disease in their blood. The blood from the patient that has recovered is called convalescent plasma. Plasma is the liquid portion of the blood.

Researchers hope that convalescent plasma can be given to people with severe COVID-19 to boost their ability to fight the virus. It also might help keep people who are moderately ill from becoming severely ill and experiencing COVID-19 complications.

If you have had COVID-19 and recovered from it, consider donating blood through Virinchi hospitals which is Directorate General of Health Services, Government of India, approved Convalescent plasma therapy center.

Your doctor may consider you a candidate for convalescent plasma therapy if you are seriously ill with COVID-19 in the hospital. Your doctor will decide if it is beneficial for you and may enroll you in the treatment program. If you or a family member has questions about convalescent plasma therapy, ask your doctor.

Your doctor will order convalescent plasma that is compatible with your blood type from your hospital’s local blood supplier.

Before the procedure

Your doctor will order convalescent plasma that is compatible with your blood type from your hospital’s local blood supplier.

During the procedure

When the plasma arrives, the sterile plasma bag is attached to the tube and the plasma drips out of the bag and into the tube. It takes about one to two hours to complete the procedure.

After the procedure

Because this investigational therapy has not been tested, you’ll be closely monitored after the convalescent plasma procedure.

Your doctor will record your response and reaction to the treatment. He or she may record how long you needed to stay in the hospital or if you need help with breathing or other therapies following the convalescent plasma procedure.

​

Convalescent plasma therapy may be helpful for people with COVID-19 who are not helped by other treatments. Some people with COVID-19 become seriously ill and do not respond to other treatments or drugs. These people often develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) — a severe lung condition. They often require mechanical assistance, such as a ventilator, to breathe.
These people also are in danger of developing organ failure.

It could also help other people who may have a higher risk of serious illness, such as people with chronic medical conditions like, heart disease or diabetes, or those who have weakened immune systems. Convalescent plasma could help these people from getting worse.

Convalescent plasma might also be considered for family members or health care workers who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 to potentially prevent them from getting COVID-19.

Doctors may choose to enroll the person with COVID-19 in an expanded access program and order convalescent plasma for him or her. This type of program provides access to investigational new drugs outside of clinical trials. This type of program is sometimes necessary when the condition is very severe or life-threatening, and there is no treatment available.

It is yet to known if convalescent plasma therapy will be an effective treatment for COVID-19. However, this treatment might improve your ability to recover from the disease.

The collective results from people receiving convalescent plasma therapy can provide information about the effectiveness of the therapy and whether it can become an approved therapy to treat COVID-19. In preliminary treatment, many people have benefited from convalescent plasma therapy. Researchers continue to evaluate the results from people who received the therapy.

By studying results of this therapy for COVID-19, doctors are getting closer to finding a treatment. In addition, learning more about the use of convalescent plasma therapy now will help health care workers be better prepared to provide optimal patient care.

Team approach

A team of Virinchi Doctors in many areas, including infectious diseases, laboratory medicine and pathology, blood collection and testing (transfusion medicine), pharmacy, virus studies (virology), and cardiovascular diseases, work together to study potential treatments for COVID-19 such as convalescent plasma therapy.

Research

Virinchi Hospitals researchers are studying the potential use of convalescent plasma therapy in people who are seriously ill with COVID-19. They are also studying many other areas related to COVID-19. Researchers are continuing to learn more about the virus that causes COVID-19 and about the disease.