Extracorporeal affinity systems and immunoadsorption therapies

Since the first applications of extracorporeal therapies for more than 50 years, steady advancements have been achieved, and more recently extracorporeal therapies have been accepted for the removal of potential toxic substances from plasma as well as supportive management for conventional therapies ranging from autoimmune diseases, cancer, acute toxicities, and variety of metabolic diseases. This chapter summarizes some of the applications of extracorporeal therapies based on commercial adsorbents, newly synthesized adsorbents, and immunoadsorbents.