Plasma exchange can help treat people with a rare inflammatory disease that can cause blindness, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Neurology. Plasma exchange led to recovery for most people with the disease, which is called myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD), and side effects were rare.
Plasma exchange is a procedure in which blood is removed from the body and filtered. The liquid plasma is separated from the blood cells and removed. The blood cells are mixed with a replacement fluid and returned to the body.
MOGAD affects the central nervous system. The immune system attacks proteins in the myelin that protects the nerves. Symptoms include vision loss, muscle weakness, confusion, seizures and headache.
The systematic review and meta-analysis do not prove that plasma exchange causes the improvements; they show only an association.
The improvements were especially seen in people whose main symptom was optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain.
