title: Long-term follow-up of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP) patients submitted to splenectomy.
abstract: We studied the general outcome in 94 adult patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP) submitted to splenectomy. Of 84/94 patients who presented a complete or partial response 30 d after splenectomy, 16 (19%) showed one or more relapses. The clinical situation of the 81 patients still under observation is as follows: 13 unresponsive, 60 completely or partially responsive, without relapses during the follow-up, 8 completely or partially responsive after one or more relapses. No correlation was found between the favourable splenectomy outcome and age at splenectomy, the diagnosis-splenectomy interval and initial response to corticosteroids. The probability of disease-free survival is 83%, projected at 10 yr, while the overall survival is 93%, projected at 10 yr. PAIgG levels of the normal subjects and of responding patients were found to be similar, while in the groups of non-responding/relapsing patients, significantly higher values of PAIgG were detected, as compared to the control group.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed Ematologia, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Mazzucconi
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Arista
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peraino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chistolini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Felici
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Francavilla
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Macale
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Gandolfo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000276:immunology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016553:Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D013156:Splenectomy; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011241:Prednisone