Research & RESULTS - Help Apheresis for Long Covid

Since media attention for Help Apheresis has increased, more testimonials have gone public about treatment and doctors and clinics report and comment/make more results public, the various information sources about Help Apheresis, that started to appear online and on social media, have become more difficult to evaluate. Please find below member collected, publicly available information from respected sources. Thank you to all contributors!  

Two of the main problems at the core of Long Covid are the severely affected microcirculation and coagulation issues – the existing studies and clinical evidence give a clear picture. The official documentation regarding indications of Help Apheresis, including microcirculation is available here:  Link

The H.E.L.P. Apheresis system is the only apheresis system on the market that is specifically designed to target the coagulation process. It also supports the fibrinolysis by removing fibrinogen at 68,6% efficiency (Study: Buuren_2012, Zanetti_2014, Mellwig_2003, Mellwig_2006). This explains why it is more efficient than other apheresis system on the market when coagulation issues need to be treated. H.E.L.P. as well increases microcirculation in the blood vessels by 20% (see studies quoted further below) and has no counterindication for ACE-inhibitors (which is a big problem with all other apheresis systems that use cascaded systems or full blood systems, explanation below*) plus it has a very high tolerability with low side effects, approximately twice better than other apheresis systems on the market. 

H.E.L.P. Apheresis does at its core what all apheresis systems do – cleaning the blood from pathogens and inflammation. But it does that at highest rates with lowest side effects – one treatment removes approx. 64% of pathogens because of the unique lipid precipitation system. (Study: Moriarty_2001, Zanetti_2014). In H.E.L.P. solving coagulation and fibrinolysis issues and boosting the microcirculation is combined with the extra corporal and intensified - through lowered pH value of the blood plasma - use of heparin. Heparin binds to SarsCov2 spike glycoprotein: https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S002192582101317X  

*ACE-inhibitor problems with other apheresis systems: • Apheresis procedures have contraindications with ACE inhibitors. The reason is the negative charges within the process technology. The only exception is lipid precipitation (H.E.L.P.). In the H.E.L.P. process there are no negatively charged process components. Why do contraindications occur with other apheresis procedures?  • ACE inhibitors inhibit ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme). The result is that the blood pressure drops. • But ACE has a second effect. Inhibition of the degradation of bradykinin. • When blood comes into contact with negative surfaces, bradykinin is released.  • If the patients take ACE inhibitors, the concentration of bradykinin in the blood becomes too high, vessels become dilated and permeable. Consequence: Circulatory collapse and high risk for the patient! 

HELP Apheresis has 30 years of clinical experience and over 500,000 documented treatments (200,000 of which are scientifically documented), this is one of the best study situations there is.  Studies of all apheresis procedures show a side effect rate of 7.7% of (Study: 2015_Dittrich_Riediger). For HELP this reduces to only 4.6% (2003_Schuff Werner, a very large study with 58,991 HELP apheresis).  The high tolerance of HELP is also proven in the following studies (Study: Heigl_2015, Buuren_2012, Dittrich-Riediger_2015). Potential adverse effects such as circulation, low blood sugar, allergic reaction are part of the nurses training and can in almost all cases be handled without a doctor. There are no known cases of ICU submissions during or after HELP Apheresis. From the over 500.000 treatments there is no case reported where there were any irreversible side effects occurring.

Immunoapheresis has  not shown results in Long Covid, Post Vac Syndrom: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/230547/Immunadsorption-zur-Therapie-des-Fatigue-dominanten-Long-Post-COVID-Syndroms

Currently we have no success reports for other forms of apheresis. There is over 30 forms of apheresis available.