Caitlin Raymond: Can Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Reduce Microplastics?
Caitlin Raymond, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared a post on LinkedIn:
”Microplastics are everywhere in the headlines right now; when a 2026 paper crossed my desk claiming therapeutic plasma exchange can lower your circulating microplastic burden, I wanted to believe it.
I practice in apheresis. I’d love a legitimate new indication.
Then I read the paper.
The topline result actually reverses at low starting burdens — patients with the fewest circulating particles going in had over three times as many afterward.
The likely culprit isn’t biology, it’s the apheresis tubing itself shedding plastic into the circuit faster than the procedure removes it.
Add an unvalidated, proprietary assay with undisclosed performance data, a commercial TPE provider with 7 of 13 authors on the payroll, and zero clinical outcome data — and what looks like a promising new indication is actually a case study in why laboratory medicine exists: to stop a test from dictating treatment before anyone’s verified it measures what it claims to.
New post on Blood, Bytes, and Beyond.”
Stay updated with Hemostasis Today.
-
Sep 4, 2026, 22:03Maeve Crowley: Haemophilia Treatment Over the Decades and Hope for the Future
-
Sep 4, 2026, 22:01Lama Skieker: Understanding Thrombocytopenia in Malaria
-
Sep 4, 2026, 22:00Hiten Patel: How an IVC Filter Helps Prevent Pulmonary Embolism
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:54Gianluca Costamagna: Investigating the Link Between Cancer and Acute Ischemic Stroke
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:50Ben Creagh-Brown: PRAGUE-26 and HI-PEITHO Similar Benefits With Important Differences
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:48Jin-Xiong She: Homocysteine beyond Heart Disease – The Methylation-Mobility Connection
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:44Aravind Palraj: Anemia of Chronic Inflammation is Not Just “Iron Deficiency”
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:41Chokri Ben Lamine: Fundamental HSCT Workshop for Hematology Fellows at HAAG 2026
-
Sep 4, 2026, 21:39Pierre Sabouret: A Good Surprise Our New Publication in Life Is Online