Apheresis Services
Gold Coast Haematology and Oncology has purchased two apheresis machines to treat patients in the Pindara Oncology Clinic (POC).
Therapeutic apheresis
Thereapeutic apheresis is a medical modality used in the treatment of various life threatening diseases including renal, haematologic, rheumatologic and neurologic disorders.
Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE)
Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE also known as plasmapheresis) is where the patient's plasma is separated and removed from the other blood components using an aphersis machine. The remaining blood components and replacement fluids are returned to the patient. TPE is mostly used to remove antibodies from the circulation, but it can also be used to remove other substances such as drugs and low density lipoproteins.
Pindara based Apheresis Service
The Pindara Day Oncology Clinic has successfully implemented an apheresis service. To prepare, Clinic Staff underwent comprehensive COM. TEC theoretical in-servicing in order to meet the necessary education and training requirements and the Australia & New Zealand Society for Blood Transfusion (ANZBT) theoretical and practical standards.
Apheresis conducted at Pindara Oncology Clinic is supervised by an expert clinical support specialist. Dr.Stylian, has been the driving force behind the development of the Pindara based service. Work will initially be limited to therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE). However over time, it is hoped to grow the service to include the collection of stem cells for the main use of autologous stem cell transplantation.
Dr. Stylian currently supervises his stem cell collection at Greenslopes Private Hospital, in Brisbane, and his aim is to make these specialised services available to patients from the Gold Coast and Northern NSW regions.