Plasma therapy on Delhi coronavirus patient shows promise

NEW DELHI: The first patient who was administered plasma therapy on compassionate grounds at Max Hospital, Saket, has shown positive results and was recently weaned off ventilator support. The patient’s two consecutive COVID-19 tests have come negative, said the authorities in a statement.

The 49-year-old, male patient from Delhi who had tested COVID-19 positive on April 4, was admitted with moderate symptoms and a history of fever and respiratory issues, the same day.

His condition deteriorated during the next few days and he soon required external oxygen to maintain saturation. He then developed pneumonia with Type I respiratory failure and had to be put on ventilator support on April 8.

When the patient showed no improvement in his condition, his family requested the hospital for administration of plasma therapy on compassionate grounds, a first of its kind treatment modality that was used for this disease in India.

The family came forward to arrange a donor for extracting plasma. The donor had recovered from the infection (confirmed by two consecutive negative reports) three weeks ago and again tested COVID-19 negative at the time of donation along with other standard tests to rule out infections like Hepatitis B, C and HIV. The patient was administered fresh plasma as a treatment modality as a side-line to standard treatment protocols on April 14.

After receiving the treatment, the patient showed progressive improvement and by fourth day, was weaned off ventilator support on April 18. He has started taking oral feed since Sunday and is faring well.

Speaking about the success of the first case administered under Plasma Therapy, Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Medical Director – Max Healthcare said, "We are delighted that the therapy worked well in his case, opening a new treatment opportunity during these challenging times. But it is important that we also understand that Plasma Therapy is no magic bullet. During the patient’s treatment other standard treatment protocols were followed and we can say that Plasma Therapy could have worked as a ‘catalyst’ in speeding up his recovery. We cannot attribute 100% recovery to Plasma Therapy only, as there are multiple factors which carved his path to recovery."

Last week, CM Arvind Kejriwal had also stated that the government is under process of starting plasma therapy.