Among patients with ARDS requiring mechanical ventilation, mortality was lower in those who received convalescent plasma compared with standard care — but questions remain.
Administering convalescent plasma (CP) to patients with COVID-19 has been debated since the pandemic's earliest months. Now, Belgian investigators have conducted a trial of CP in 475 mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19–induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who were enrolled between September 2020 and March 2022 and randomized 1:1 to receive CP or standard care. Most participants were immunocompetent, and only about 10% had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. CP was collected between April 2020 and May 2021, when the ancestral and Alpha strains predominated and before more-recent SARS-CoV-2 variants emerged.
About 80% of the CP group received CP with a neutralizing antibody titer of ≥1:320 (against ancestral SARS-CoV-2…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)
DisclosuresGrant/Research SupportNIH
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; ID Images (idimages.org); Infectious Diseases Society of America COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines; International Antiviral Society–USA (Guidelines Committee)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesHIV Medicine Association; Infectious Diseases Society of America (Board of Directors)