Convalescent plasma transfusion in severe or critically ill COVID 19 patients: A rapid systematic review Goruntla Narayana1,*, Sadiq Mohammad Jaffar2, Easwaran Vigneshwaran3 1Department of Pharmacy Practice, Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (RIPER) - Autonomous, KR Palli Cross, Chiyyedu Post, Anantapur, 515721, Andhra Pradesh, India 2Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, 21442, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 3Assistant Professor, Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia *Corresponding Author E-mail: narayanagoruntla@gmail.com
Online Published on 13 October, 2023. Abstract Currently, there is no availability of any proven specific treatment or prevention strategy to fight against COVID-19. Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy is expected to increase survival rates in COVID-19 as in the case of emerging viral infection (SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV). To collect all the studies relevant to CP therapy in critically ill or severe COVID-19 patients and summarize the findings. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA consensus statement. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases on April 25, 2020. A total of six studies (28 patients) relevant to CP therapy in severe or critical COVID-19 are considered for inclusion. Two authors extracted the data about study characteristics, demographics, symptoms, co-morbidities, clinical classification of COVID-19, drug therapies, oxygen therapy, laboratory results, chest CT, neutralizing antibody titer, SARS-CoV-2 RNA load, aal outcome. The review findings revealed that CP therapy increases lymphocyte count, reduced s serum inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-6, Procalcitonin) and liver enzyme levels (AST or ALT). There was a rise in serum neutralizing antibody titers in 10 of 14 patients after CP transfusion. In 4 of 14 patients, the titer levels remain unchanged after CP transfusion. All 28 cases (100%) achieved negative to the SARS-CoV-2 RNA after CP transfusion. The convalescent plasma transfusion can improve neutralizing antibody titers and reduces the viral load in severe/critical COVID-19 patients. The review recommends a well-controlled trial design is required to give a definite statement on the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in severe/critical COVID-19. Top Keywords COVID-19, Coronavirus, Treatment, Convalescent plasma, Critical, Severe. Top |