Refractory Immunological Thrombocytopenia Purpura and Splenectomy in Pregnancy

Santiago Bernal-Macías1, Laura-Marcela Fino-Velásquez1, Felipe E Vargas-Barato2

  • 1Center for Autoimmune Diseases Research (CREA), School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.

Thrombocytopenia is defined as a platelet count of less than 100,000 platelets per microlitre (mcL). Thrombocytopenia develops in approximately 6-7% of women during pregnancy and at least 3% of these cases are caused by immunological platelet destruction. Herein, we present a pregnant woman who develops at the first trimester autoimmune thrombocytopenia purpura associated with positive antiphospholipid antibodies. The disease was refractory to pharmacological treatments but had a favourable response to splenectomy. The patient carried the pregnancy to term without complication and gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

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