Massachusetts doctor receiving plasma for coronavirus treatment is ‘stronger and stronger every day’
A doctor on a ventilator at Tufts Medical Center has continued to get “stronger and stronger every day” after receiving plasma in the hopes of curing his coronavirus infection — the latest anecdotal evidence of encouraging results from plasma treatment.
Over at UMass Memorial Medical Center, for instance, more than 20 coronavirus patients have received plasma doses, Dr. Jonathan Gerber said on Tuesday. Some of the patients have significantly improved within 24 hours after receiving the plasma, he said.
“Some people have stabilized and come off ventilators successfully,” said Gerber, chief of hematology and oncology at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
“We’re seeing promising results with some people,” he said.
One COVID-19 patient at Tufts Medical Center in Boston who appears to be getting better because of plasma is Dr. Nicolaos Athienites, 59. The nephrology kidney specialist at Brockton Neighborhood Health Center and at five hospitals had been treating patients in the ICU before getting infected with coronavirus.
Athienites has been on a ventilator since April 18, but since the plasma arrived, he’s feeling “stronger and stronger every day,” his wife Jennifer reported to Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.
Athienites greatly improved after only 24 hours — quick progress that Gerber has also noticed with some patients receiving plasma at UMass Memorial.
One patient at the Worcester hospital significantly improved within one day of receiving plasma, but that progress stalled out in a week, Gerber said. The patient was given another dose of plasma, and that did the trick. The patient is now off a breathing tube and out of the ICU.
“It’s a pretty dramatic improvement for someone who was doing terribly at the time they got the plasma,” Gerber said. “This is all anecdotal evidence, but it’s very encouraging.”
Plasma is “not a miracle cure,” however, he said. The plasma appears to be less effective for some patients who are further along with the infection.
“The longer they’re in the ICU, the deeper the hole is to climb out of,” Gerber said. “Sometimes the damage is too severe.”
His message for people who have recovered from coronavirus and are healthy enough to donate their plasma: Do it now.
“It’s such a great opportunity to give, and is a real chance for a person who had coronavirus and is now recovered to really be a hero,” Gerber said. “This may be a life-saving therapy for another person.”
The federal government is supporting a national effort to collect and provide convalescent plasma to patients in need across the country. The Mayo Clinic is serving as the lead institution for the protocol. More than 1,900 different medical facilities have enrolled, including more than 30 in Massachusetts.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2zzVNOY
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