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. 1985 Oct;38(10):1172–1174. doi: 10.1136/jcp.38.10.1172

Size of spleen rather than amount of platelet sequestration may determine long term responses to splenectomy in adult idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

B J Boughton, P Smith, J Fielding, R Hawker, I Wilson, S Chandler, A Howie
PMCID: PMC499463  PMID: 4056069

Abstract

Fourteen adults with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura suffered a relapse after treatment with steroids, vinca alkaloids, or intravenous gammaglobulin. Splenic sequestration of platelets labelled with 111In-oxine was assessed, and the patients then underwent splenectomy. During follow up of four to 47 months (mean 20.7) none of the patients required further treatment, including three of 14 who showed partial relapses. Splenic sequestration patterns did not predict relapses, but an unexpected finding was that patients who relapsed had significantly smaller spleens. It is concluded that splenectomy is beneficial in most adult patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and that radiological techniques to measure the size of the spleen may be useful in predicting which patients may relapse.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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