plasma exchange [Gk, plassein, to mold; L, ex + cambire, to change; Gk, therapeia, treatment] , a method of treating certain diseases by removing a part of the patient’s plasma and replacing it with albumin, plasma, or other fluids. The goal may be to reduce a pathogenic molecule, protein, autoantibody, alloantibody, immune-complex, drug, toxin, or inhibitor, or to replace deficient plasma with normal plasma. Also called therapeutic plasmapheresis.
