Rituximab experience in a resistant thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura case
A. Beste Öztepe1, Ercan Ersoy2, Elif Ertürk1, Sibel Demiral Sezer1, Gülnur Görgün3
1Tepecik Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi İç Hastalıkları Kliniği, İzmir, Türkiye
2Kırkağaç Devlet Hastanesi İç Hastalıkları Kliniği, Manisa, Türkiye
3Tepecik Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Hematoloji Kliniği, İzmir, Türkiye
Keywords: Platelet count; rituximab; thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
Abstract
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a life-threatening condition characterized with microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, fever, neurological findings, and renal failure. The standard treatment of TTP is plasma exchange and corticosteroids; however, many patients require additional immunosuppression. In this article, we present a refractory TTP case that did not respond to a treatment of daily two doses of plasma exchange and corticosteroid, and that recovered rapidly with rituximab treatment.