Columbus Regional Health has administered an experimental blood plasma therapy to more than 40 patients with COVID-19 since mid-April, with well over half of the patients improving after receiving the therapy.
The treatment, called convalescent plasma therapy, involves giving COVID-19 patients an infusion of blood plasma from people who have already recovered from the illness in hopes that antibodies produced by the recovered patient’s immune system will help other patients fight the infection, CRH officials said.
As of Tuesday, 41 COVID-19 patients at CRH had received the treatment since April 14, said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue. A total of 56% of the patients have since been released from the hospital, with another 13% still hospitalized but improving.
“The majority were discharged within four days of receiving the therapy,” DeClue said.
Last month, CRH joined a national trial led by the Mayo Clinic that seeks to expand access to convalescent plasma therapy in the United States as medical providers around the country scramble to find an effective treatment for a virus that researchers and doctors are just beginning to understand.
Hospital officials have been urging COVID-19 survivors to consider donating their plasma and have partnered with blood research institute Versiti to supply donated plasma.
Donors must be at least 18 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and have had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 by a physician and laboratory testing or a positive test for antibodies, CRH said in a statement.
In addition, donors must be symptom-free for 14 days before being eligible to donate.
As of last week, at least 10 coronavirus survivors had donated plasma at a Versiti mobile blood bank that visits Columbus weekly, which could provide enough plasma to potentially administer the therapy to nearly 30 patients, DeClue said.
The number of plasma donors has allowed CRH to slowly expand the therapy in recent weeks to patients in serious but slightly less severe conditions, CRH officials said.
“When we first started the program, we were truly reserving the plasma for those ‘critical’ patients, in the ICU, definitely on a ventilator, condition worsening. The worst of the worst (cases),” DeClue said. “Then it was slowly expanded the ‘severe’ patients, which, not surprisingly, they’ve been having much more success with. ‘Severe’ is going to be an in-patient requiring hospitalization, they’re still dealing serious effects from the virus, but they’re not in that ‘critical’ category, most likely not experiencing any kind of organ failure or catastrophic response from the virus.”
Doctors at CRH first provided the therapy to a critically ill COVID-19 positive patient on April 14, CRH officials said in a statement. The patient remains in critical condition and is being monitored closely, hospital officials said.
There have been a total of 481 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bartholomew County, including 33 deaths linked to the coronavirus, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
CRH officials said they may continue to expand the therapy to additional patients depending on the volume of plasma donations they receive.
“We are incredibly fortunate and pleased to be able to partner with Mayo Clinic and Versiti Blood Bank to offer this exciting and potentially life-preserving treatment to our most vulnerable patients,” said Dr. Raymond Lee Kiser, medical director of hospital care physicians at CRH, in a statement. “Even though this therapy is still considered experimental, it has shown great progress nationally in helping very ill patients make progress in recovery of COVID-19.”
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Columbus Regional Health is seeking potential donors for the program.
In order to donate, a person must be at least 18 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds and meet the following additional requirements:
- Have had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 by physician and laboratory testing OR positive test for antibodies
- Must be symptom free for 14 days before being eligible to donate
CRH is advising people who are interested in getting an antibody test to contact their primary care doctor. CRH’s lab and outpatient lab can provide the testing but require an order from a physician.
Anyone with questions about the donation process or the Expanded Access Convalescent Plasma Program is encouraged to contact our COVID-19 Triage Resource Center at 812-379-4449 or contact their physician.
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