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Photopheresis

 

 
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Photopheresis
 
 
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In medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, photopheresis or extracorporeal photopheresis is a form of apheresis
Apheresis

Apheresis is a medical technology in which the blood of a donor or patient is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation....
 in which blood
Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
 is treated with photoactivable drugs which are then activated with ultraviolet light.

Photopheresis is currently standard FDA-approved therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
T-cell lymphoma

T-cell lymphoma describes several different types of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma which affect T cells. T cells are involved in four classes of lymphoma....
. In this procedure, buffy coat
Buffy coat

The buffy coat is the Blood fractionation of an anticoagulant blood sample after centrifugation that contains most of the white blood cells and platelets....
 (WBC + platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
s) is separated from whole blood, chemically treated with 8-Methoxypsoralen (instilled into collection bag or given per os
Per os

Per os is an adverbial phrase meaning literally from Latin "by mouth" or "by way of the mouth." The expression is used in medicine to describe a treatment that is taken orally....
 in advance), exposed to ultraviolet light, and returned to the patient. 8-Methoxypsoralen irreversibly binds covalently to both strands of the DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 of nucleated cells following photoactivation.






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In medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, photopheresis or extracorporeal photopheresis is a form of apheresis
Apheresis

Apheresis is a medical technology in which the blood of a donor or patient is passed through an apparatus that separates out one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation....
 in which blood
Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
 is treated with photoactivable drugs which are then activated with ultraviolet light.

Photopheresis is currently standard FDA-approved therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
T-cell lymphoma

T-cell lymphoma describes several different types of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma which affect T cells. T cells are involved in four classes of lymphoma....
. In this procedure, buffy coat
Buffy coat

The buffy coat is the Blood fractionation of an anticoagulant blood sample after centrifugation that contains most of the white blood cells and platelets....
 (WBC + platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
s) is separated from whole blood, chemically treated with 8-Methoxypsoralen (instilled into collection bag or given per os
Per os

Per os is an adverbial phrase meaning literally from Latin "by mouth" or "by way of the mouth." The expression is used in medicine to describe a treatment that is taken orally....
 in advance), exposed to ultraviolet light, and returned to the patient. 8-Methoxypsoralen irreversibly binds covalently to both strands of the DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 of nucleated cells following photoactivation. The photochemically damaged T-cells returned to the patient appear to induce cytotoxic effects on T-cell formation. The mechanism of such “antitumor” action has not been elucidated. Minimal observed side effect
Side effect

Side effect can mean:* Adverse reaction, an unintended consequence specifically arising from drug therapy* Therapeutic effect, an unintended but desirable consequence of any kind of medical treatment...
s for patients receiving photopheresis include hypotension
Hypotension

In physiology and medicine, hypotension refers to an abnormally low blood pressure. This is best understood as a physiologic state, rather than a disease....
 and syncope
Syncope

In phonology, syncope is the loss of one or more sounds from the interior of a word; especially, the loss of an unstressed vowel....
 resulting from volume shifts during leukapheresis
Leukapheresis

Leukapheresis is a laboratory procedure in which white blood cells are separated from a sample of blood. This may be done to decrease a very high white blood cell count in individuals with cancer or to remove white blood cells for transfusion....
 phase of treatment. Photopheresis is also used as an experimental treatment in patients with cardiac, pulmonary and renal allograft rejection, graft-versus-host disease
Graft-versus-host disease

Graft-versus-host disease is a common complication of allogeneic Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in which functional immune cells in the transplanted marrow recognize the recipient as "foreign" and mount an immunologic attack....
, autoimmune diseases, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis or Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy is a rare and serious syndrome that involves fibrosis of skin, joints, eyes, and internal organs....
 and ulcerative colitis
Colitis

Colitis is a Chronic digestive diseases characterized by inflammation of the colon .Colitis is one of a group of conditions which are inflammatory and auto-immune, affecting the tissue that lines the gastrointestinal system ....
.

External links

  • entry in the public domain NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
  • definition at eMedicine.com
  • discussion at Stanford School of Medicine