COVID-19 patient saved using convalescent plasma therapy in Kerala: Doctors
The beneficiary, who had been on ventilator for almost a week was taken off the support after a team of doctors administered the plasma of a person cured of the disease.
The man is now recuperating in the ICU, doctors said. The therapy involves separation of anti bodies from a person cured of coronavirus and its subsequent infusion into the COVID-19 patient in a critical condition. Performed as a medical emergency, the technique was used at the Government Medical College (GMC) in Thrissur. The benefactor was a Delhi-returned Malayali.
He tested positive for COVID-19 on June 6 and faced acute respiratory complications five days later, warranting the use of a ventilator.
On June 11 night, the patient underwent the convalescent plasma collection therapy that lasted till day break. "The procedure requires volunteers who have recovered from COVID-19 and are above the age of 18.
They can donate plasma, the yellowish liquid component of the blood, between the first and fourth months after cure," said M A Andrews, Principal of GMC in a statement issued by National Health Mission's Arogya Keralam. The therapy has proven its potential and given the COVID-19 patient a fresh lease of life, the doctor said. Convalescent plasma therapy relies on an apparatus called apheresis that separates the plasma from the donor's blood.