The efficiency of therapeutic erythrocytapheresis compared to phlebotomy in relation to blood volume and delta-hematocrit: An evaluation in hereditary hemochromatosis polycythemia vera and secondary erythrocytosis

Manuel phlebotomy is still standard treatment in hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), polycythemia vera (PV) and secondary erythrocytosis aiming at reducing iron stores and blood viscosity respectively. Recently therapeutic erythrocytapheresis (TE) has been suggested to be a more efficient modality. The aim of this study was to draft a mathematical model predicting the efficiency of a single TE procedure compared to manual phlebotomy and additionally to perform a retrospective evaluation of TE based treatment in HH, PV and secondary erythrocytosis subjects treated in our center.