Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE) has emerged as a powerful tool with a wide range of clinical applications in medical advancements. While known for managing various autoimmune diseases and blood disorders, TPE holds immense potential in cancer prevention.
In this blog, we will review how TPE is used as a proactive tool to keep yourself cancer-free.
But first, let us discuss how TPE works, and the risks associated with this procedure.
Understanding Therapeutic Plasma Exchange
Therapeutic plasma exchange is a safe and easy procedure that involves removing a person’s blood using an FDA-approved medical device. This device, called an apheresis machine, separates the liquid part of the blood, called plasma, from the red blood cells.
While plasma is a vital component of blood that carries essential substances, it can also contain elements that can create serious health conditions. Here are a few components in plasma that have a negative impact on your health:
- High Cholesterol and Triglycerides
- Inflammatory markers
- Autoantibodies
- Toxins
- Abnormal cancer-causing proteins
After the blood has been separated into plasma and red blood cells, the machine replaces the plasma with albumin. Then the blood is reintroduced back into the person’s body. After a few days, your body will naturally reproduce plasma, only this time it will be much cleaner and healthier for your body.
This procedure closely resembles the well-known plasma donation. The differences are the volume of plasma processed and the exchange of the removed plasma for human-grade albumin.
The risk of a therapeutic plasma exchange with albumin as the replacement fluid is a low 3%. Most adverse reactions, if seen at all, are low blood sugar, blood volume, or calcium. All these events are easy to prevent and correct and rarely cause much concern for the medical staff or the patient.
TPE replaces around 70% of the plasma with each procedure. TPE removes everything that is carried in the plasma, including medications. For this reason, great care must be taken when using TPE on patients taking medications for seizures, abnormal heart rhythms, and blood thinners. Removal of these drugs may precipitate the conditions the drugs are working to control.
5 TPE Benefits to Help Prevent Cancer
1. Improving the Immune System:
The immune system plays a crucial role in recognizing and eliminating cancer cells. As we age, our immune response weakens, allowing cancer cells to multiply. By removing harmful toxins, antibodies, and immune complexes that hinder immune function from the bloodstream, TPE restores a robust antitumor immune response. Thus, reducing the likelihood of cancer development and progression.
2. Promoting Healthy Blood Flow:
TPE improves blood circulation by removing abnormal plasma components. Abnormal components, such as elevated levels of antibodies, clotting factors, and hormones that stimulate blood cell proliferation, all contribute to thicker blood. Thick blood does not allow for adequate blood flow, essential for delivering oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs. Improved circulation supports optimal tissue health and reduces the risk of cancer development.
3. Reducing Inflammation and Oxidation:
Inflammation is associated with an increased risk of cancer. TPE helps reduce systemic inflammation by removing inflammatory mediators, cytokines, or immune cells involved in the inflammatory process.
Oxidative stress, caused by an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants, can contribute to cellular damage and increase cancer risk. TPE indirectly reduces oxidative stress by removing pro-oxidant substances. By selectively targeting and removing these risk factors, TPE contributes to cancer prevention.
4. Reducing Cancer-producing Viruses:
Understanding how certain viruses cause cells to become cancerous when the virus breaks the cell’s DNA in selected places was a Nobel Prize-winning discovery. TPE reduces viral load in the body, slowing down the virus’s ability to damage cellular DNA. By removing the number of viruses in the body, TPE may play a significant role in cancer prevention.
5. Eliminating Harmful Toxins :
Our everyday environment is rapidly becoming contaminated with toxins. Similarly, our bodies are exposed to all these toxins, which we never evolved to remove. As we age, many of our bodily systems decline, including the organs that remove toxins. A myriad of toxins that have known connections to the development of cancer.
Because of the increased exposure and the decreased ability to remove these toxins, our bodies become more toxic and more prone to cancer. TPE presents a unique opportunity to address these toxins directly. By eliminating these harmful substances through TPE, we reduce the overall exposure of toxins in organs and tissues, minimizing the risk of cancer development.
Want to Learn More about Therapeutic Plasma Exchange?
Therapeutic Plasma Exchange emerges as a promising strategy in the realm of cancer prevention by modulating the immune system and enhancing immune surveillance, promoting healthy blood flow, improving the microenvironment by reducing inflammation and oxidation, reducing the number of cancer-producing viruses in the body, and eliminating harmful substances from the bloodstream. More research is underway to expand our knowledge on how TPE may be used to prevent cancer.
Want to Learn More about Plasma Exchange?
Our TPE guidebook is a great FREE resource to learn more about the procedure. It covers the history of plasma exchange, the benefits, possible side effects, and how to prepare for the procedure.
Click the button below to download your FREE guide now
