AABB has released new clinical practice guidelines for the use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) as a treatment for patients with COVID-19. The guidelines were published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The guidelines, written by a committee of experts convened by AABB, were developed after a thorough review of available data regarding CCP and reflect the most up-to-date scientific understanding of CCP’s use as a therapeutic option. The new guidelines replace AABB’s interim guidelines for CCP use, originally published in March 2021.
The new guidelines comprise five central recommendations regarding CCP as a therapeutic option for patients with COVID-19:
- CCP transfusion, in addition to the usual standard of care, can be considered as a potential treatment option for outpatients with COVID-19 who are at high risk for disease progression.
- CCP transfusion should not be used as a treatment option for unselected hospitalized persons with moderate or severe disease. (This recommendation does not apply to immunosuppressed patients or those who lack antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.)
- CCP transfusion, in addition to the usual standard of care, can be considered as a potential treatment option for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who do not have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected at admission.
- CCP transfusion, in addition to the usual standard of care, can be considered as a potential treatment option for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and preexisting immunosuppression.
- Prophylactic CCP transfusion is not recommended for uninfected persons with close contact exposure to a person with COVID-19.
The recommendations stress that CCP is likely to be most beneficial as a therapeutic option when administered early following the onset of symptoms. “The beneficial effects of CCP are primarily associated with its neutralizing antibodies, which target SARS-CoV-2 and assist in viral clearance,” the committee wrote in the guidelines. “Thus, persons who benefit the most from CCP are those treated early and who have not yet developed their own neutralizing antibodies.”
