[Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in elderly subjects]

During an 8-year period, 35 patients aged over 60 and presenting with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura were observed. At the time of diagnosis, 51.5 percent had haemorrhages which were major in 26 percent of the cases. Response to various treatments, notably corticosteroid therapy, was weak (43 percent). During the course of the disease, 2 patients (5.7 percent) died of cerebral haemorrhage. This series confirms the importance of haemorrhagic syndrome and the resistance to treatment of the elderly as opposed to younger subjects. This is probably due to the heterogeneity of purpura in old age: in a number of patients purpura corresponded to refractory chronic thrombocytopenia or to chronic thrombocytopenia associated with carcinoma.