Cancers, Vol. 16, Pages 1462: The Challenge for a Correct Diagnosis of Refractory Thrombocytopenia: ITP or MDS with Isolated Thrombocytopenia?

Cancers, Vol. 16, Pages 1462: The Challenge for a Correct Diagnosis of Refractory Thrombocytopenia: ITP or MDS with Isolated Thrombocytopenia? Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers16081462 Authors: Aikaterini Kosmidou Eleni Gavriilaki Athanasios Tragiannidis Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by isolated thrombocytopenia. It is diagnosed in patients with a platelet count below 100,000 per cubic millimeter in whom other causes of thrombocytopenia have been ruled out, and its diagnosis is generally one of exclusion. Clinical manifestations of patients may vary from asymptomatic disease to mild mucocutaneous or life-threatening bleeding. Glucocorticoids are used as first-line treatment for ITP, while other second-line medications, mainly thrombopoietin-receptor agonists (TPO-RA) and rituximab, are given to patients in whom ITP does not remit, or relapses soon after glucocorticoid treatment. Refractoriness of ITP strongly questions its diagnosis and necessitates a thorough clinical and laboratory work-up to decide whether that is the case of refractory ITP or a misdiagnosis. The aim of this review is to summarize the conditions associated with isolated thrombocytopenia and highlight the characteristics of confusing cases. Even though the case of a myelodysplastic syndrome presented with isolated thrombocytopenia (MDS-IT) is relatively rare and not well-established in the literature, it constitutes one of the most predominant misdiagnoses of re...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research