The study was carried out by specialists from the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, Research Institute of Pulmonology, FMBA, Institute of Molecular Biology named after V.A. Engelhardt RAS and the FMBA Blood Center. The doctors published the results of their work as a preprint in the scientific journal Clinical Practice.
For the study, 146 potential donors of anticoid plasma with a high titer of antibodies that neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus were selected, and 86 patients who were divided into two groups. The first group included 20 patients in extremely serious condition who were on mechanical ventilation, the second - 66 patients with moderate or severe COVID-19 who breathed on their own. Patients of the second group were randomized into two cohorts in a 2: 1 ratio, they received different types of plasma - immune and non-immune.
“The use of convalescent plasma in patients with COVID-19 in an extremely serious condition against the background of acute respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation did not affect the outcome of the disease. Mortality in this group was 60%, which corresponded to the lethality of patients in the control group, who were on mechanical ventilation," the doctors write.