What is apheresis?
Apheresis is a procedure that involves removing whole blood from the vein of a patient or donor and processing it using an apheresis machine so that one or more specific blood components can be removed.
The procedure is painless and takes approximately two hours, which is only slightly longer than a typical blood donation.
What is apheresis used for?
Apheresis is used to treat certain medical conditions, such as blood and neurological disorders and some cancers, by a procedure known as plasma exchange, where part of the blood that might contain disease-provoking elements is removed.
Apheresis also allows for donor collection of specific blood components such as plasma, platelet cells and red blood cells, which can treat patients with many different disorders.