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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Patients affected by a long Covid turn to different therapies, sometimes bordering on medical scams. Practices denounced by Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
Private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and even Switzerland offer a blood filtration technique for patients affected by the long Covid. Experts have looked into the matter to understand the underside of these invasive treatments, far from being without health risks, and which are offered without medical proof. Their findings are reported by Madlen Davies, Surveys Editor at the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Symptoms of covid that persist
Patients suffering from long Covid have sequelae following their infection for months. A whole series of symptoms that can vary from one individual to another and which greatly handicap those who suffer from it on a daily basis. Through social networks, especially in groups dedicated to the long Covid, some have heard of the technique of apheresis, or “blood washing”.
What is apheresis?
Apheresis is an invasive technique for filtering blood, which uses large needles to extract and filter it to rid it of lipids and other inflammatory proteins. Needles are placed in each arm and the blood passes over the heparin filter, separating the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is filtered before being recombined with the red blood cells and returned to the body through a different vein.
This method of treatment is recommended by the German Society of Nephrology as a standard last resort for lipid disorders. In the case of long covid, it is recommended to filter the microthromboses present in the blood of patients. “In all inflammatory diseases, this type of microthrobosis is created” recalls Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
A treatment without scientific bases
Over time and without being based on any scientific study, the name of this expensive and potentially risky treatment for health, when prescribed without real need, circulates on social networks as being THE solution to covid. long. Some people even manage to launch online pots to finance their treatment sessions. “It looks like a medical scam” indignant Dr Gérald Kierzek.
“We still know little about long Covid, its pathophysiology and the mechanisms involved. Filtering the blood invasively and administering anticoagulants is not a trivial technique” adds the specialist. “The so-called remedy should not cause potentially serious complications”.
Unclear procedures
Experts who have studied the procedures of these establishments criticize them for not clearly explaining to patients that this is an experimental treatment and in some clinics, the consent form asks patients to waive their right to sue. the clinic if they injure themselves after having apheresis, which is considered a safe procedure.
The BMJ contacted the Cypriot Ministry of Health and the Cyprus Medical Association to ask if the clinic or doctor violated professional or ethical standards in the country, but received no response.
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A solution of despair
“These people who had a normal life before their infection, find themselves very diminished overnight, so it is not surprising that they are desperate and seek solutions, even the most far-fetched” adds Dr. Kierzek. “However, I recommend that they do not believe in these “miracle solutions” and rather start a follow-up with their general practitioner”.