title: High prevalence of sustained remission of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura after Helicobacter pylori eradication: a long-term follow-up study.
abstract: We studied the effect of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication in 43 consecutive H. pylori-infected patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. H. pylori was eradicated with antibiotics in 41 of them (95.3%). The difference between the mean platelet count before and after therapy was statistically significant (54.3 x 10(9)/l vs. 119.1 x 10(9)/l; P < 0.001). A sustained remission was observed in 20 patients (48.8%), after a median follow-up of 31.2 months. None of the patients still infected by H. pylori after therapy reached normal platelet values. The long-term follow-up confirms the efficacy of H. pylori eradication in H. pylori-infected ITP patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Haematology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Veneri
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krampera
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franchini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D015995:Prevalence; D016553:Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic / Q000097:blood* / Q000382:microbiology