Hemoperfusion indications

[adagio]

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So other than Theophylline toxicity causing instability, what are the other indications (especially for ABIM) for hemoperfusion?!
My understanding is that this procedure is getting blood out of the body, and passing it in contact with Charcoal then pumping it back.
Correct me if i am wrong. Thanks.

 

[gutonc]

You are seriously worrying about the wrong stuff for that exam. You're even less likely to get asked a question about hemoperfusion than you are about stem cell transplant like you asked about in your other thread.

 

[CptNemo]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about this for the ABIM.

In practice, I've rarely done hemoperfusion.

Main indication is for drug intoxications that are not removed by hemodialysis (mostly protein bound stuff and really large molecules). But in many cases, a lot of drugs have large volumes of distribution, so there is often a large rebound after you stop the procedure (like dialysis, it only has direct access to what is in the blood and not the tissues). It also can drop one's platelets quite a bit.

They tried to use is for liver failure to remove "bad humors" -> failed.

Most recently, I've mainly seen some trials of polymixin hemoperfusion to remove endotoxin in sepsis:
http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/15/1/218

 

[adagio]

I agree @gutonc its probably overkill for ABIM.


@CptNemo This is really helpful. Thank you so much for your time.

 

[gutonc]

I agree @gutonc its probably overkill for ABIM.

It's actually overkill for any IM practice or exam at all.