title: Efficiency of treatment with rituximab in platelet transfusion refractoriness: a study of 7 cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rituximab in treatment of immune PR.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospective analysis 7 paitents (5 aplastic anemia, 2 myelodysplastic syndrome) with immune PR who received at least 3 weekly infusions of rituximab (375 mg/m(2)).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All enrolled patients acquired improvement of platelets transfusion more than 2 months (CCI ≥ 4.5 × 10(9)/L). We first found that there were 2 patterns of response to rituximab treatment in patients with immune PR, which the early but transient after the first rituximab administration and the late but continuous beginning to appear at 3 weeks from the start of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rituximab is a promising treatment in patients with immune PR and giving the opportunity and time for cure the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Dijiong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Tonglin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Baodong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ye
keywords: Rituximab; corrected count increment; immune; platelet refractoriness