Therapeutic Apheresis Registry of the Spanish Society of Nephrology. Analysis of activity over the last five years.

INTRODUCTION

Therapeutic apheresis (TA) is an extracorporeal technique used to treat various renal and non-renal pathologies, for which the ASFA guidelines provide recommendations. In Spain, nephrology services have progressively adopted various forms of TA, and since 2018, the Spanish Society of Nephrology (S.E.N.) has maintained a national TA registry to monitor its use.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the activity of nephrology services participating in the TA registry of the S.E.N (AFT-S.E.N.) between 2019 and 2023.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

A descriptive observational study was conducted that included all treatments consecutively recorded in the AFT-S.E.N. registry between 2019 and 2023. A total of 4331 procedures performed on 525 patients across 19 nephrology services were analysed.

RESULTS

The median age was 43.7 years, and 49.6% of patients were female. The main indications were neurological diseases (33%), renal diseases (22%), and metabolic diseases (19.6%). Sixty percent of the procedures were performed for acute episodes and 40% in chronic programmes. The most commonly used technique was plasma exchange (72.2%), followed by double filtration (19.7%). Adverse effects occurred in 7% of sessions, primarily hypotension and vascular access issues.

CONCLUSIONS

The AFT-S.E.N. registry represents the first multicentre initiative in Spanish nephrology. The data demonstrate the expansion and diversification of TA techniques and the implementation of chronic programmes. They also show that TA is being integrated into clinical nephrology practice, with an acceptable safety profile.