Plasma exchange in immune complex disease.

The effect of plasma exchange on CIC, anti-dsDNA and complement levels and clinical activity was studied in eight patients with SLE, one with idiopathic anaphylactoid purpura and one with mixed cryoglobulinaemia. No association existed between different tests for immune complex detection. Plasma exchange as sole therapy was effective in patients with idiopathic anaphylactoid purpura and mixed cryoglobulinaemia, but not in one SLE patient with CIC. Five SLE patients with CIC treated with corticosteroids showed improvement on plasma exchange but in two patients with and two with CIC plasma exchange was not effective.