Long-term follow-up of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP) patients submitted to splenectomy.
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.
Mazzucconi
M G
MG
Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed Ematologia, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Arista
M C
MC
Peraino
M
M
Chistolini
A
A
Felici
C
C
Francavilla
V
V
Macale
E
E
Conti
L
L
Gandolfo
G M
GM
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
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011241:Prednisone