HOME HELP FEEDBACK TABLE OF CONTENTS ARCHIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Zaja, F. Articles by Fanin, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zaja, F. Articles by Fanin, R.

Lower dose rituximab is active in adults patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

¹ Clinica Ematologica, DIRM, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, Udine;
² Clinica Ematologica, Policlinico Le Scotte, Siena;
³ Divisione di Ematologia, AORN "A. Cardarelli", Napoli;
⁴ Dipartimento di Farmacologia, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia;
⁵ Istituto di Ematologia ed Oncologia Medica L. ed A. Seragnoli, Bologna and
⁶ Cattedra di Statistica, DIRM, Università di Udine, Italy

Correspondence: Francesco Zaja, M.D., Clinica Ematologica, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, piazza S. Maria della Misericordia, 33100 Udine, Italy. E-mail:zaja.francesco{at}aoud.sanita.fvg.it

ABSTRACT

Rituximab 375 mg/m² weekly for four weeks has significant activity in patients with immune thrombocytopenia. We evaluated the activity of lower dose rituximab (100 mg iv weekly for 4 weeks) in 28 adults with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Overall (platelet count > 50x10⁹/L) and complete responses (platelet count > 100x10⁹/L) were achieved in 21/28 (75%) and 12/28 (43%) patients respectively. The median time to response and time to complete response were 31 and 44 days respectively. After a median follow-up of 11 months (range 3–18), 7/21 (33%) patients relapsed and 3 needed further treatments. In patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, lower dose rituximab seems to show similar activity to standard dose.

Key words: immune thrombocytopenia, B-cell depletion, lower dose rituximab.