Top Docs Vodcast with David Haase, MD on Therapeutic Plasma Exchange
For the past 15 years, I have been obsessed with finding ways to make brains work better. And during the last 5 of those years, I’ve been pioneering a new approach to slow, halt and even reverse cognitive decline through Therapeutic Plasma Exchange. This innovative therapy has the potential to considerably slow down the rate of brain and body degeneration and can provide hope for those diagnosed with brain degeneration or memory loss.
Our patients have reported the following improvements after completing Regenerative Plasma Exchange:
- Improved energy
- Improved mood
- Improved sleep
- Less pain
- Decreased fatigue
- Improved speech capability
- Improved brain function
- Improved problem-solving skills
Would you like to learn more about Therapeutic Plasma Exchange?
Watch the video as Bill Klaproth and Dr. Haase discuss:
- How does Therapeutic Plasma Exchange work?
- What are the benefits of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange?
- How do you get started if you’re interested?
Why Choose MaxWell Clinic For Therapeutic Plasma Exchange?
MaxWell Clinic is the largest outpatient facility in the United States dedicated to providing Therapeutic Plasma Exchange. We also:
- Have some of the highest levels of customization and safety protocols
- Provide opportunities for systems medicine integration – offering comprehensive assessment and treatment to support your health
Our medical director, Dr. David Haase, is a Vanderbilt and Mayo-trained doctor and is double board-certified. In the last 20 years, Dr. Haase has taught more than 10,000 physicians his protocols that aid patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other chronic illnesses.
We’ve helped many patients in the Nashville area and beyond reach a higher quality of life. Check out a few of their testimonials here.
How To Get Started with Therapeutic Plasma Exchange
Your life should be lived without the fear of losing your brain and body function. If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with a neurological or autoimmune condition, or if you’re worried about developing one of these conditions, there is hope! We believe your body is designed to heal.
To learn more about Therapeutic Plasma Exchange, click here to schedule your free 20-minute information phone call.
so what is therapeutic plasma exchange
this Innovative therapy has the
potential to slow down the rate of brain
and body degeneration
it sounds like something we all want so
let’s learn more with Dr David haasey
founder and medical director at the
Maxwell Clinic
[Music]
this is the top docs podcast I’m your
host Bill claproth Dr Hussey thank you
for being here great to be with you Bill
yeah so this uh this is really
interesting I’m excited to learn more
about this so why would someone need a
therapeutic plasma exchange yeah it’s
not something many people know about or
hear about on a daily basis and it’s a
it’s a very uh um established medical
procedure that is usually used to treat
severe autoimmune disease but now is
finding some really interesting and
useful applications to promote longevity
as well as uh treat and reverse
neurocognitive disease which would be
things like dementia
so I could see a lot of people really
being interested in this this could
really turn the tide or stem the tide of
people with degenerative brain disorders
yeah this is Bill this is really one of
the most interesting topics in all of
medicine right now and it really it’s
something that nobody should be
surprised that they haven’t heard of it
before because the therapeutic plasma
exchange is usually something that just
exists inside Major Medical Centers
um it’s it’s a it’s a procedure where we
actually remove the liquid part of the
blood the plasma and then replace that
plasma with a clean replacement of
plasma fluid right and and so that’s
really useful somebody has a very severe
autoimmune disease because what we’re
doing is cleaning out those Auto
antibodies from the body so that they’re
no longer attacking the tissue any
longer but what’s interesting is that
it’s been founded that this has many
more effects than uh what are useful in
severe autoimmune disease yeah you said
this is an established medical procedure
this goes on in major Hospital titles so
you briefly describe the procedure so do
you remove all of the plasma or do you
remove all the plasma or just some or
and what do you replace the old plasma
with yeah so let me just describe it to
you in general right so if when an
individual has plasma exchange done uh
usually you have to get vascular access
that means you need an iv put in either
you put a not big IV in each arm or very
large IV is put in the neck and um and
and that we actually uh are able to
avoid that which increases complications
and challenges with plasma exchange
um you know the the IV and the neck part
but what you do is you put an IV in one
arm and then the blood is pulled out
that blood gets mixed with an
anticoagulant so it doesn’t clot
together it gets goes through a
centrifuge continuously and then the
cells all the solid parts of the blood
the white cells the red cells and the
platelets those are separated from the
liquid part of the blood which we call
plasma now inside the plasma we have a
major protein called albumin but there’s
also all of the junk there’s all of the
broken down proteins there are
messages of of cellular aging there are
damaged molecules all of that is in the
liquid part of our blood
and our body has to continually clean
that up so that part is separated from
the cells and then all the cells are
then recombined with a purified plasma
replacement product which is mainly made
of this same protein called albumin so
that liquid then gets recombined it all
goes back into one IV line and it goes
back in the IV that could either be in
the other arm and um and this goes
continuously sometimes for an hour and a
half or up to three hours and we end up
removing the equivalent of all of the
plasma that the person started with so
that can be you know three to four to
four and a half liters of of plasma it’s
really a remarkable therapy quite safe
and it has some really interesting
applications so it’s your blood filtered
and cleaned and then reinserted back
into your body so it’s not really
filtered it’s actually just separate the
liquid part is separated from the cells
and actually discard it you know and
then you know we’re replaced with this
albumin that has been cleaned that has
no risk of infection or there’s no
additional broken down cellular or
molecular materials in that fluid and
that’s what the replacement fluid is
mainly made of got it have there been
studies or clinical trials about the
benefit of therapeutic plasma exchange
oh yeah like I said this has been around
for a long time
we treat individuals with severe
multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis
Optica or uh you know so many of the
autoimmune conditions there’s lots of
small studies done on this in very
severe conditions but the really
exciting studies are the ones that are
coming out with regard to Alzheimer’s
disease
there was a study called the ambar trial
an ambar trial is this study that should
have blown the tops off of the New York
Times uh this one should have been
shouted from the rooftops because it was
a multinational
multi-center randomized controlled trial
that looked at giving this procedure to
individuals with Advanced Alzheimer’s
disease or early Alzheimer’s disease
and they did this individuals got a
total of about 14 of these plasma
exchanges excuse me 18 plasma exchanges
over the course of about 14 months and
another group got a sham basically they
thought they were getting the procedure
but they didn’t and if you compare those
groups the individuals with this
Advanced Alzheimer’s disease had over a
60 percent decrease in their rate of
progression compared to the individuals
who got the Sham wow that’s 60 and
individuals that had mild Alzheimer’s
disease there was a trend that they
actually had improvement over the course
of those 14 months that is that gives
more hope than anything that we have
seen in the pharmacological world as a
as a viable treatment to address this
multi-system degeneration that
predominantly affects the brain that we
call dementia
super exciting stuff so why do you think
this wasn’t promoted or widely
recognized
well number one you know if you’re not
up on it you’re down on it
right if you’re not aware of something
if people if you don’t have kind of the
construct you know the people who are
listening to this podcast now know that
there’s this thing called therapeutic
plasma exchange that exists and guess
what they’re going to start seeing it
all over the place because they’re now
aware but now I have to even tell you
and you know I I went to Vanderbilt and
Mayo Clinic practicing Mayo click I I
knew my stuff and I still was never
exposed when in my early years of
training two therapeutic plasma exchange
as a treatment which surprised me I was
like wow I thought I kind of knew that I
knew the palette of what was possible in
healthcare so this is just number one
not known to begin with and therefore
there’s no real advocates for it the
other thing is plasma exchange we kind
of it’s kind of a procedure in medicine
that’s a red-headed stepchild no offense
to the red-headed stepchilds out there
but
um because there’s no one specialty that
rules it
nephrologists neurologists intensive
care doctors family doctors Internal
Medicine doctors
toxicologists everybody
uses this tool on occasion many
Specialties use this tool on occasion
but it’s not like it’s in the realm of
Cardiology or just neurology or just
Rheumatology
it’s a broadly applicable tool so it
just it just didn’t get as much
recognition as it needed to and so it’s
uh it’s kind of shocking yeah well it
sounds like this is a breakthrough and
it’s going to get traction pretty soon
so what are some of the positive results
patients see afterwards
well you know Bill I don’t know if it’s
that really the the way we should think
about it right because all too often
yes people see positive results
um with regard to
um some individuals have clearer memory
they have
um we’ve had reports of their Vision
being clearer their uh attention being
better their mood improving but what’s
more important than the symptoms are is
the system How would how are you
functioning at a cellular level all too
often in healthcare we’re focusing on
you know a pill for an ill oh I have
knee pain so I’m going to take this this
pain Eliminator pill but the cause of
the knee pain is still there and it’s
still degenerating and one of the things
that is terribly under recognized is how
important aging is as a cause unto
itself aging is the number one
risk factor for death from covid but by
like 20 times more than any other risk
factor the same thing goes with heart
disease and cancer if if your aging is
10 to 20 times more important of a risk
factor is anything else and what’s
interesting about plasma exchange is it
may actually affect the biologic process
of Aging
at the at the at the genetic expression
level let me tell you a little story
because this this is super interesting
and I this may be one of the most
interesting stories in all of Medical
Science
um at the University of Berkeley and at
um
Stanford MIT they’ve done that run this
experiment called parabiosis and this is
where they took two mice an older mouse
and a clone of that mouse that was
younger and they sewed them together
side by side so they kind of shared a
little flap of skin and these poor
little mice are attached to each other
run around the run around the cage
together
and a remarkable thing happened in about
a week is that the old mouse started to
turn Young
so biologically its muscles could repair
after injury faster in the liver the
fatty liver started to reverse uh
osteoporosis started to reverse in this
old mouse the T cell and B cells the
immune cells started to act more like
they should in a young individual the
hair started to grow in and most
interesting for me is that neurogenesis
started new neurons started to sprout
when this old mouse was exposed to the
plasma really of the young Mouse and
that started this entire idea Irina
Convoy was really Irina Michael Convoy
really the leaders in this remarkable
studies and then they went well hey
could this be done by a machine and so
they actually did essentially a plasma
exchange on these mice they said okay
this old mouse let’s just remove some of
their old plasma and let’s just put in
clean plasma not not young plasma just
even clean plasma and guess what most of
these same changes happened so they were
able to change the very biology of Aging
through this process of plasma Exchange
in a mouse
that was mimicking uh connecting a young
mouse to an old mouse so what’s
interesting is that we can measure those
things in adults so you say well what
changes happen what do people feel well
while what they feel over time may be
very significant what we can measure is
that we have seen a very substantial
Improvement in the markers of Aging of
individuals that undergo plasma exchange
and that is we call that methylomics so
there are specific tests that we can do
that measure just how biologically old
somebody is and we’ve seen changes four
and six years younger after a plasma
exchange and in our in our Center we
have an IRB approved research trial
going on it’s the most advanced research
trial of its kind where we’re studying
transcriptomics methylomics proteomics I
mean lots of big words but the bottom
line is we’re measuring everything we
can possibly measure to understand why
this works it’s pretty well agreed that
this is happening but now we’re trying
to crack the code on why does it work so
we can keep doing it better and better
and better so and yeah that isn’t that
interesting I mean that that just that
is one of these stories that goes like
you’ve got to be kidding me that that
old we are kind of as old as the signals
that float through our blood that tell
ourselves how old we are so if we change
those signals our stem cells actually
start to behave younger so we can
rejuvenate ourselves like the young
Mouse and the older Mouse the younger
cells rejuvenated the older mouses cells
so we can do that with therapeutic
plasma exchange basically we we have
seen lots of evidence of that I’m not
going to make the claim yet okay we
don’t have an FDA approved indication
for this but um but that’s why we’re
studying it and we have people that
travel from across the United States and
other countries to work with us on this
on this very Pro this very opportunity
so you said the FDA is looking at this
u4c then a day where this will be FDA
approved and that’s probably when the
mass Market will really understand and
receive this well just recognize
everything we’re doing we’re using FDA
approved machines FDA or approved
materials all of it is FDA approved the
FDA really doesn’t approve a medical
procedure okay what it is instead you
know is when is it going to be covered
by Insurance what is it going to be
covered by Medicare that’s the question
and and so this is really a matter of
medical judgment
um as to when a when a intervention is
applied and um and that’s where you have
to weigh what are the potential Pros the
cons the risks the benefits you know and
that’s true those are individual
decisions right so you said earlier
there was a test done where people were
administered this over a period of 14
months how many procedures do people
normally get
so and it really is that’s another one
of the things that still is dependent
upon what condition they have an
individual with severe autoimmune
disease may need one of these procedures
twice a week for months and months and
months
individuals that are trying to reverse
cognitive decline
um the the frequency uh varies but the
ambar trial like I said there were 18 of
these treatments that were done over the
course of uh 14 months of therapy
and as it regards longevity it’s very
interesting we see even a single plasma
exchange has ongoing
effects in the body measured sometimes
up to six months later so you know how
long can one of these interventions last
um it kind of depends upon the person
that is being intervened upon an
individual who’s really sick and really
biologically old is going to take a lot
more
intervention than somebody who is really
looking more for a tune-up if you’re
going to do an overhaul versus a tune-up
and that’s kind of what we’re doing this
is an oil change right it’s an oil
change for the blood so
all right that’s a good way to think
about it so people are probably watching
this going I’m in sign me up but who is
a good candidate who is not a good
candidate yeah so again these categories
um uh severe autoimmune disease you know
you really work with your physician but
it’s still even in autoimmune disease
this is an under recognized opportunity
some individuals with autoimmune
conditions such as pots or
um and even long covet some of these are
individual these these have been
addressed with plasma exchange for
individuals with cognitive decline we
have another IRB approved trial where we
are investigating this and how these
blood how the blood markers that are
associated with Alzheimer’s disease
change over the time with plasma
exchange
um but individuals with cognitive
decline I think there’s very good reason
to suggest they should look into this
and then
um and individuals that are looking to
improve their health span
um you know how do you aging is
essentially when you have more
degeneration than regeneration in any
given time period and so for the
antidote for that is more repair and
what you do need to repair for you need
your stem cells to do the repairing in
your tissues where they where they live
already in your body if we can make
those stem cells act younger you know
soup up so they do more repair
the question is at what time is that
appropriate to start
um we have some individual we’ve we have
trialled this in 40 year olds I really
think that the cutoff is right around 45
to 50 years of age when people really
start seeing benefit in the longevity
space and certainly when you’re starting
to get about 55 to 60. aging really
starts happening as soon as we stop
growing and developing and that’s around
age 25. so by the age of 30 every single
organ in your body is declining in
function every single organ is losing
what we call organ reserve and you know
what everybody who’s above that age age
usually certainly if they’ve hit 40
already know that right yes already know
that and yes and so it’s a really
exciting time in longevity medicine you
know I think this has a lot of a lot of
potential to address the most important
risk factor for every chronic
degenerative disease that exists which
is the the biologic process of Aging
itself so exciting absolutely I’m just
thinking about quality of life as we age
this is a tool to help extend that
quality of life even further
well even if we don’t get more years we
should be shooting to get more good
years good years right yeah and and
here’s the other thing I I
plasma Exchange
also gives us more evidence about how
important lifestyle is because what
we’re doing here is we’re essentially
cleaning the blood we’re decreasing the
amount of nasty things in there and and
as a result the body goes ah good thank
you I can I can function better so
eating clean
um breathing clean air drinking clean
water
um decreasing the stress in our life
exercising these are fundamental and in
many ways plasma exchange gives us some
biologic proof
that living a clean life has some real
benefit to it so whether or not you
engage in the therapy itself it should
really be a marker that you know our our
bodies are designed to create Health
from the inside out we are designed for
that and how can we we should be curious
about how can we do a better and better
job of enabling our bodies to do more
repair in a day than that they would
have and uh that’s uh it’s exciting yeah
that for sure so as you’re talking about
that clean eating living a healthy
lifestyle are there other therapies that
you use along with plasma exchange that
might be helpful kind of a one-two punch
kind of a thing yeah um so we have a
whole pathway that is dedicated to
improving the safety of this procedure
you know one of the things is we’re we
probably have the one of the highest
rates of getting peripheral access us
meaning being able to use IVs in the
arms rather than these big catheters and
and that’s where most of the danger is
with a plasma exchange
and then what else goes in we’re
studying that extensively and we’ve had
multiple different IV fluids and things
like that to improve safety and and
efficacy I think there’s going to come a
time where we see stem cell products
being used I think we’ll see a time
where exosomes and plasma proteins and
there’s going to be a whole host of
additional improvements that will
continue to come and I think those are
going to be very most important to be
customized when appropriate to an
individual but I think the jury is still
out exactly what is the best thing to
add in what we’re really clear about is
that cleaning up is is absolutely
essential that it’s really that
the the molecules that are floating
around in an old person are creating the
old
okay we think the clock causes the old
but in many ways it’s the signals that
the body is continuously exposed to that
are perpetuating the biologic age of the
cells that takes a while to wrap your
head around yeah but but
um it’s going to prove out to be
accurate because we really beat our
bodies up over time
well listen gravity is a right
and when we think about gravity erosion
friction oxidation you know nobody’s
getting out of this life alive right
nobody’s going to get out of this life
alive and
um that is that’s a reality so but how
can we have the very best days possible
right yeah right how do we have less
degenerative disease that causes
disability and early death I mean I
really am passionate about how do we
stay out of that zone of disability I
mean those multiple years where one
doesn’t really have control of their
life they don’t really have enjoyment of
their days and you know our yeah kind of
just waiting for uh waiting for the
universe to reclaim the parts right yes
that’s what we want to avoid
absolutely yeah and this can help us to
avoid that so how does someone get
started in all of this well the first
thing is really to have a consultation
uh with our Center uh you can find us at
maxwellclinic.com that’s
m-a-x-w-e-l-l-clinic.com and schedule a
consultation we I I think this is this
is in the realm of Highly personalized
medicine you know this is not something
that we there’s no rubber stamp uh
process for this and and I I think it’s
very important to
um individualize these approaches so
that’s where we start by listening right
so you come up with a targeted plan then
for each individual when it comes to
therapeutic plasma replacement correct
if appropriate and you know um and you
know again like I mentioned this is a
very safe procedure but you know if I I
think it’s important to remember I like
this idea that plasma exchange is a lot
like a snow blower I grew up on I grew
up as a farm boy in South Dakota right
and I blew a lot of snow and man snow
blowers are wonderful you know the
driveway’s all packed with a whole bunch
of accumulation of stuff you don’t want
you take the snow blower and you blow it
all out that’s great and
um and that is a uh and that’s the same
way the plasma exchange really does man
it can go in there and just clean out a
whole bunch of build up of things that
you really don’t want there that’s
wonderful
and we should be trying to find the
cause of the snowing and in addressing
all the underlying cause that we can do
um and and and or at least be mindful of
that
um and utilizing both of those therapies
is I think the ideal absolutely well
you’ve given us some great visuals to
hang on to the oil change for the body
and now the snow blower blowing all the
bad stuff out but we got to understand
why it is snowing as well really great
information Dr Hussey anything else you
want to add before we wrap up
well I will say this that the the number
one comorbidity right a comorbidity is a
disease that occurs with another disease
that’s what we call it in the medical
world the number one comorbidity for
dementia uh and and even aging itself is
denial
uh one of the things it would so
frequently people that have well they’re
losing a little bit of memory you know
blow it off and they go like oh it’s not
really a problem oh it’s a little hard
in the arteries oh it’s a little bit you
know you deny you distort you know you
do everything possible to not actually
face what is happening aging happens
neurodegeneration happens and to the
extent that you can go yep I’m human
like all other humans and I am subject
to the ravages of of time
um and I can either choose to do
something about that or I can put my
head in the sand and continue to live in
denial see denial is actually pretty
rational if there’s nothing you can do
about it right and for many many decades
we have been told that there’s nothing
you can do with regard to
neurodegeneration
there’s nothing you can do with regard
to changing your biologic aging pathway
and that’s BS I believe I I think that
instead but then once you recognize that
it takes a lot of Bravery it just takes
a lot of Bravery to say huh I have a
problem and then to reach out and and
and and ask and and then oftentimes a
lot of a lot of Physicians are still in
that belief system that there’s nothing
that can be done and so they ask and
they go like oh well you know there’s
nothing that can be done I shouldn’t
have even asked you know and uh and and
then they proceed on to their curve of
degeneration and aging uh that they have
been on so I just want to encourage
everybody to
you know don’t let denial become your
demise
and encourage curiosity when it comes to
how you can live your life more fully uh
both from a standpoint of how long you
can live it and how well you can live it
be curious because we live in an amazing
age so many new things are coming forth
that actually have can make a difference
so I feel so privileged to get to be
alive at this point in time and get to
practice medicine I love practicing
medicine uh I love I love love my
patients but uh it’s just an amazingly
wonderful time to get to be alive so and
don’t let denial be your demise very
well said Dr Hussey this has really been
fascinating and informative thank you so
much for your time we appreciate it
thank you Bill
and if you found this podcast helpful
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for topics of interest to you this is
the top docs podcast I’m Bill claproth
thanks for listening
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