Comparison of outcomes and costs of extracorporeal blood purification therapies in critically ill COVID-19 patients

INTRODUCTION: Plasmapheresis and hemoperfusion are used against cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19. This study aims to compare their outcomes, costs, and side-effects. METHODS: Survival, costs and side-effects were compared in intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving plasmapheresis (n = 49), hemoperfusion (n = 20), or none (n = 107), followed until death or discharge. RESULTS: Plasmapheresis survival time was higher than hemoperfusion or controls (HR = 0.764, p = 0.397 and HR = 0.483, p = 0.002, respectively), although the latter diminished after controlling for age and disease severity (p = 0.979). There was no significant difference in ICU costs for plasmapheresis and hemoperfusion (p = 0.738) while both costed more than controls (both p textless 0.001). Hypocalcemia and thrombocytopenia incidence did not differ between two groups (p = 0.124 and p = 0.389, respectively) while being higher than controls in plasmapheresis (both p textless 0.001) and hemoperfusion (p textless 0.001 and p = 0.056, respectively). CONCLUSION: Plasmapheresis and hemoperfusion do not differ significantly in patient survival, ICU costs and side-effects with a higher incidence of hypocalcemia and thrombocytopenia compared witcontrols.