The Role of Blood Purification by HA330 as Adjunctive Treatment in Children with Septic Shock

Introduction: Despite advances in supportive care for critically ill patients, sepsis remains an important cause of death worldwide in the PICU. One of the hallmarks of sepsis is hyperinflammation due to the excessive release of inflammatory mediators. Recently, new therapeutic approaches, such as immune modulation and blood purification, have been tried to improve outcomes in patients with septic shock. Methods: This study is a prospective observational study composed of children with septic shock and the PELOD-2 score ≥10 or the PRISM-3 score ≥15. All received 2–4 h of HA330 treatment on 2 consecutive days, used as adjunctive therapy. The effectiveness of HA330 hemoperfusion was evaluated by improving the PELOD-2 and PRISM-3 scores, the vasoactive inotropic score (VIS), and inflammatory markers from baseline to 72 h after the use of HA330 hemoperfusion. Results: Twelve patients hospitalized in the PICU and diagnosed with septic shock between July 2021 and May 2022 were included in this study and received hemoperfusion with HA330. The average PELOD-2 and PRISM-3 scores decreased significantly from 9.5 (IQR: 6.5–13.0) at baseline to 2.0 (IQR: 0–6.5) at 72 h (p = 0.002) and from 16.5 (IQR: 15.0–20.5) at baseline to 5.5 (IQR: 2.0–9.5) at 72 h (p = 0.002), respectively. The VIS decreased significantly from baseline to 72 h (p = 0.003). IL-6, procalcitonin, and lactate levels also decreased significantly from baseline to 72 h (p = 0.005, 0.03, and 0.03, respectively). Two of 12 patients expired due to their underlying condition (2/12, 16.7%). Device-related adverse events did not occur in this study. Conclusions: Our observational case series suggests a possible role for HA330 hemoperfusion as an adjunctive treatment of refractory septic shock in children with high severity scores in the context of rapid improvement in organ dysfunction, without serious adverse effects.