Ency. home > Disease > I > Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)   

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Alternative names:

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura; ITP

Treatment

In children, the disease often runs its course without treatment.

In adults, initial treatment with prednisone is given. A splenectomy (removal of the spleen) is indicated if the person does not respond to prednisone. The spleen is the major site of platelet destruction, so a splenectomy will resolve the thrombocytopenia in most people.

Other treatments (when the disease does not respond to initial treatment) are oral danazol, high dose gamma globulin injections, drugs that suppress the immune system, and passage of the blood over a Protein A (Prosorba) column (which filters antibodies out of the blood stream).  Anti-RhD therapy, which destroys cells carrying a specific blood cell molecule, is also useful in some people.

People with ITP should avoid taking aspirin or ibuprofen, because these drugs interfere with platelet function, and bleeding may occur.

Prognosis

The chance of remission (a symptom-free period) is good with prednisone or a splenectomy. Rarely, ITP may become a chronic ailment in adults and reappear even after remission.

Complications

• Severe bleeding
• Bleeding into the brain or loss of blood into the digestive tract

Call Your Health Care Provider If:

Go to the emergency room or call the local emergency number (such as 911) if severe bleeding occurs or other new symptoms develop.

Ency. home > Disease > I > Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)

---

[an error occurred while processing this directive]