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

Francesco Zaja1, Marta Lisa Battista, Maria Teresa Pirrotta

  • 1Clinica Ematologica, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, piazza S. Maria della Misericordia, 33100 Udine, Italy. zaja.francesco@aoud.sanita.fvg.it

Haematologica
|April 12, 2008
PubMed

Rituximab 375 mg/m(2) 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 > 50 x 10(9)/L) and complete responses (platelet count > 100 x 10(9)/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.

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