Kinetics modeling of plasma exchange: Intra- and post-plasma exchange

Patient response to plasma exchange is variable. Clinical experience indicates that the outcome depends on the size of the exchange relative to the patient's plasma volume, the amount of material available for removal in both the intravascular and extravascular pools, and the mobility of the material between the pools. Post-exchange, the patient's course also depends on the mobility of the material between the pools as well as its production and catabolic rates. The work reported here is an attempt to construct a mathematical model that describes events occurring intra- and post-plasma exchange. An attempt to model the kinetics of plasma exchange promotes an understanding of the requirements of volume removal in individual exchange procedures for optimal results, and establishes the interval between exchanges required to sustain the response to each individual exchange procedure.