Treatment Part Of Trial

A critically ill patient has received a transfusion of plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient, the first use of the therapy in the Sanford Health system.

The treatment is part of a national clinical trial to test the effect of blood plasma in treating COVID-19. The use of plasma under this program is for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19, or those at high risk of progression to life-threatening disease

Convalescent plasma is an antibody-rich product made from blood donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19. Studies suggest that the plasma may lessen severity or shorten the length of the illness caused by the virus.

“This is another step forward in our efforts to find effective treatments for this virus,” said Allison Suttle, MD