Cebu docs use hybrid plasma therapy to heal COVID-19 patient

Doctors from Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital (CDUH) unveiled the Hybrid Therapeutic Plasma Exchange and Convalescent Plasma Therapy – a first in the country. | Photo courtesy of Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III

CEBU CITY — Statistics told them that the patient had a very slim chance to survive.

But a group of physicians at Cebu Doctors’ Hospital (CDH) here did not give up on 68-year-old Ana Marie Clavano-Cruz, who was rushed to the medical facility after having trouble breathing last June 9.

Cruz, who was suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), had to be intubated to facilitate her breathing.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said intubated patients only have 20 percent to live.

Still, the doctors persisted and performed what they called a Hybrid Therapeutic Plasma Exchange and Convalescent Plasma Therapy—a first in the country.

Unprecedented

Though it was an unprecedented move, they were committed to do it especially after getting the green light from the management.

First, the doctors removed the bad plasma from the patient and then replaced it with good plasma from the donor.

“This was the first time this type of treatment was done in the country,” said Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazal III, president and chairman of the board of the Cebu Doc Group of Hospitals.

Three days after the treatment, the patient immediately showed significant improvements.

Ten days later or 13 days after confinement, Cruz fully recovered from COVID-19 and was discharged from the hospital.

Lazarrabal and the other doctors could not help but feel extremely happy with the development.

“The doctors were very amazed by her recovery. It’s really like a miracle,” Larrazabal said in a virtual press conference.

A first in the Philippines

He explained that the few intubated patients who recovered from the disease usually spent three weeks to one month at the hospital.

“Today, we wanted to educate the public about the Hybrid Therapeutic Plasma Exchange and Convalescent Plasma Therapy. While other countries and hospitals have done a singularly Therapeutic Plasma Exchange, it is the first in the country that we have done this hybrid modality,” Larrazabal said in a post on Facebook.

“We are happy that the result is promising. Depending on the case, we hope to be able to use this to our more severe cases to save more lives,” he added.

Beacons

The team of doctors who showed the “beacon of light,” he said, were Dr. Edgar Tan, cardiologist; Dr. Maria Isabel Mahinay, hematologist; Dr. Geraldine Lim, pulmonologist; and Dr. Mitzi Chua, infectious disease specialist.

Larrazabal appealed to patients who recovered from COVID-19 and are qualified to donate their plasma to infected patients to boost the latter’s immune system and help their bodies fight the disease.

Plasma is the part of the blood that remains when red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and other cellular components are removed.

It contains water, salt, enzymes, antibodies, and other proteins.

“Please do not hesitate to reach us and we will extend all necessary assistance to you,” said Larrazabal to those who want to donate their plasma for COVID-19 patients.

Among those who donated their plasma to CDH were Police Corporal Bernie Atuel Gacosta, Police Sergeant Alvin Gacostas, and Joey Gamo-a—all of whom were COVID-19 survivors.

“You are indeed survivors who became saviors,” Larrazabal said.

The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center has agreed to be the depository of donated plasma.

Larrazabal said CDH is willing to share the Hybrid Therapeutic Plasma Exchange and Convalescent Plasma Therapy to other hospitals that have plasmapheresis machines, which dispose of unhealthy plasma and replace it with healthy plasma from a donor.

“Amid this pandemic, what is needed is teamwork. Our goal really is to help people and save the lives of more patients,” he said.

LZB