Ineffectiveness of therapeutic plasma exchange as a last resort in severe COVID-19 cases: Experience from a tertiary intensive care unit.

Aim: Several studies have suggested that cytokine release syndrome (CRS) can be controlled by therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) treatment. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of TPE treatment in patients who developed life-threatening respiratory failure syndrome (SARS) due to COVID-19 infection.

Methods: In this retrospective, case-control study, patients, who developed SARS, were infected with the COVID-19 virus, and required intensive care unit (ICU) admission were included.