The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2007 , Vol 49 , Num 3
Evaluation of clinical characteristics, diagnosis and management in childhood immune thrombocytopenic purpura: a single center’s experience
1Department of Pediatric Hematology, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
2Department of Pediatrics, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydın, Turkey
3Department of Pediatric Hematology İstanbul University İstanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey
Koçak Ü, Aral YZ, Kaya Z, Öztürk G, Gürsel T. Evaluation of clinical characteristics, diagnosis and management in childhood immune thrombocytopenic purpura: a single center’s experience. Turk J Pediatr 2007; 49: 250-255.

Diagnostic evaluation and management in childhood immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) are controversial. We reviewed the files of 162 children with ITP to evaluate clinical characteristics, response to treatment and outcome. History of antecedent infection, vaccination and serologic evidence for acute viral infection were present in 48%, 5% and 17% of the patients, respectively. At diagnosis, two-thirds of the patients had a platelet count of <10,000/µl but only 10% had major bleedings. Intracranial hemorrhage was seen in two patients (1.2%) with a mortality rate of 0.6%. Sixteen percent developed chronic ITP. The rate of platelet recovery with mega-dose methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg/d for 3 and 20 mg/kg/d for 4 days) was similar to that obtained with intravenous immunoglobulin or oral prednisolone. Four of seven patients with ITP responded to splenectomy. These data show that mode of treatment has no effect on the clinical course and prognosis of childhood ITP. Keywords : children, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, treatment.

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