Apheresis and Cellular Therapy are complex, highly regulated, and highly intertwined fields. Many community or small academic medical centers contract with outside blood center or dialysis companies to provide therapeutic apheresis or stem cell collections for their patients, which may require on-site oversight from ordering physicians who may not be familiar with the procedures. Many times,these physicians depend on the local pathologists for guidance. However, at these places, the pathologists tend to be generalists who may have minimal training or exposure to these issues during their training/career and thus, may not be familiar with recent advancements or comfortable in making key recommendations in complex patients. The goal of this education session is to provide highlights of basic concepts in Apheresis and Cellular Therapy to assist general pathologists in their daily practice. In this education session, common consult topics will be summarized. Specially, discussion on apheresis math, such as plasma volume and number of red blood cells units required for a red blood cell exchange, will be provided. Other important apheresis topics, such as apheresis indications, timing of specimen drawn, replacement fluid choice, and modifications in patients with comorbidity, will be discussed. Lastly, topics in cellular therapy and regulations, such as labeling, eligibility and suitability determination, and collections for biotherapies will be highlighted.

Faculty/Authors

Joseph Schwartz, MD, QIAcm
Huy Pham, MD, MPH

Physician Competencies: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Professionalism, Interpersonal Skills Communication

CME/CMLE Credit: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour
Format: Online Educational Activity

Accreditation Statement: The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Credit Designation Statement: The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Instructions

To claim CME/CMLE credit for the exercise, do the following:

1. Review the Technical Considerations.
2. Review the Faculty Disclosures.
3. Click Go to Course to view an overview of the modules in this course.
4. Click Access to begin the course.
5. Submit the course Evaluation.
6. Enter the maximum number of credits offered and click Claim CME to register credit.

Faculty Disclosure

Technical Considerations

Release Date: 09/06/2024
Review Date:
Expiration Date: 03/06/2025