Ursodeoxycholic acid treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura with liver dysfunction

Michiaki Koike1, Iwao Sekigawa, Kaol Ogawa

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Juntendo University Izu-Nagaoka Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan. yu-koike@lily.ocn.ne.jp

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is known to reduce immunoglobulin from B cells and cytokine production from T cells. We found that UDCA increased the platelet count in two idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) patients who have liver dysfunction. UDCA was tolerated and did not cause diarrhea in the amounts used. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of UDCA in ITP patients.

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