Feb
My mother was diagnosed with a rare disease that affects 1 out of every 100,000 people. Started as upper respriatory infection that spread to her blood? They said they might need to wash her blood? The name of it was ferrat… something. Just know the first word sounded like ferret.
Answer:
I'm sorry to hear about your mom. Washing the blood like you describe is called plasmapheresis, also called plasma exchange. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives this definition:
"Main Entry: plas·ma·phe·re·sis
Pronunciation: \ˌplaz-mə-fə-ˈrē-səs, -ˈfer-ə-səs\
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from plasm- Greek aphairesis taking off — more at aphaeresis
Date: 1914
: a process for removing blood plasma without depleting the donor or patient of other blood constituents (as red blood cells) by separating out the plasma from the whole blood and returning the rest to the donor's or patient's circulatory system"
It is a process similar to dialysis. The blood is taken out of the body where the plasma is separated from the rest of the blood and 'washed'. Then it is re-combined with the rest of the blood and put back in the body.
In case that doesn't really help you, check out the following websites:
http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/pl…
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Ato…