pheresis
Noun 1. A medical procedure for separating blood components: Pheresis is a technique where blood is withdrawn from a body, separated into its constituent parts (such as plasma, platelets, or white blood cells), a specific component is retained, and the remaining blood is returned to the donor or patient.
Pheresis is a technical medical term used primarily in healthcare, clinical, and research contexts. It refers to the general process of apheresis, which is the separation of blood. * The patient underwent pheresis to collect stem cells for the transplant. * Pheresis is often used to collect plasma from healthy donors. * The laboratory specializes in therapeutic pheresis procedures.
- Therapeutic Pheresis: This refers to using the pheresis procedure as a treatment to remove a harmful component from a patient's blood, such as diseased white cells or abnormal proteins.
- Therapeutic pheresis was performed to manage the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.
- Donor Pheresis: This refers to using the procedure to collect a specific blood component (like platelets or plasma) from a healthy donor for transfusion to another person.
- He regularly schedules donor pheresis appointments to give platelets.
- Apheresis (n.): This is the more formal and complete term for the same procedure. "Pheresis" is often used as a shortened form.
- Cytapheresis (n.): A type of pheresis specifically for the separation and removal of cellular components (e.g., leukapheresis for white cells, plateletpheresis for platelets).
- Plasmapheresis (n.): A specific and common type of pheresis where the plasma is separated and removed from the blood.
- Pheresis Machine / Apheresis Machine (n.): The device used to perform the procedure.
- Apheresis
- Hemapheresis (less common)
The core meaning of "pheresis" is the process of separation by removal. In a medical context, it is exclusively applied to the separation of blood components. It is not used in general, non-medical language.
- a procedure in which blood is drawn and separated into its components by dialysis; some are retained and the rest are returned to the donor by transfusion