History of Apheresis

Apheresis is a process or treatment modality by which blood is being removed from a patient/subject, desired component is collected, and the rest is returned to the donor. The idea of changing the blood composition and removing a presumed pathological substance from the blood for treating various diseases mainly through bloodletting goes back to 1000 years BC. Modern apheresis is a complex, technology-dependent field involved in the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases belonging to various disciplines in medicine. There is an increasing number of indications where apheresis can be used as a standalone or adjuvant treatment option. The history of apheresis reflects the development of instrumentation. In this review, we summarized the milestones of clinical applications and current state of apheresis science.