Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and Westerly Hospital treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma

New London, CT/Westerly, RI (April 22, 2020) ꟷ Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and Westerly Hospital are treating patients with plasma donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 through a protocol recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Three patients at Westerly Hospital and one at L+M have received plasma infusions from donations obtained through the New York Blood Center. All of the Yale New Haven Health delivery networks are participating in a nationwide clinical trial overseen by the Mayo Clinic to administer convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to offer this treatment as an option for our patients,” said Mudassar Khan, MD, the study’s lead investigator at Westerly.

“The premise is that the donor’s immunity can be passed on to the recipient.” Plasma therapy has been used in the past to treat SARS, Ebola and a variety of other infections. Plasma is the fluid part of the blood left once the red cells, white cells and platelets are separated.