Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville using convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus

Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville using convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus

And i'm najahe sherman.

The f-d-a announced emergency authorization for "con-val-escent plasma" as coronavirus treatment.

That's plasma with antibodies from a recovered coronavirus patient that is given to someone currently fighting the disease.

The f-d-a says at this point - research shows that the benefits of it outweigh the risks.

We learned - north alabama hospitals have been successfully using it for some time already.

Waay 31's grace campbell is live outside huntsville city hall after learning how it's being used at crestwood hospital.

Grace?

Crestwood medical center's c-e-o, doctor pam hudson, said they have been using convalescent plasma for the past four months under research protocol.

She said while she hasn't heard of any complications, there are some risks with the procedure.

Dr. hudson: "the first risk is it might not work so that you would expose a patient to something that may have potential harm and has no chance of helping."

Now that the f-d-a issued an emergency use authorization - the administration said it could make the treatment available to more patients.

But - the treatment hasn't gone through a full f-d-a approval process, meaning there was no randomized trial involving a placebo.

In huntsville - doctor pam hudson said more data is still needed.

Hudson: "unfortunately, almost all the results that are coming out on the various treatment modalities are early results, relatively small populations, so time will tell" but - she said that over the 4 months it's been used in north alabama, doctors have seen "favorable" results.

Hudson: "i've not seen that the providers in our community have backed off that use so, i believe the thought is and the feeling is from the researchers in the field that this is helpful."

In the meantime - she said there are still risks involved.

"human plasma has the same risks as any blood donation does.

While those are small, they are still real."

Hudson said medicines like remdesivir and dexamethasone also shows favorable results to treating coronavirus.

Live in downtown huntsville, grace campbell, waay 31 news.