Steroid-Refractory Chronic Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Responding to Combination Therapy With Eltrombopag and Rituximab

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a disease in which the immune system attacks platelets and decreases their number, which increases the patient's risk of bleeding. ITP is diagnosed by exclusion and usually manifests as acute disease. It is self-limiting in pediatric patients, while it tends to be a chronic disease in adults. Treatment of ITP focuses on maintaining a sufficient platelet count to decrease the risk of bleeding rather than normalize the platelet count. Most patients respond to first-line treatments, such as steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). However, some cases can become steroid-dependent or unresponsive to first-line therapy, in which case, second-line therapy is required to control symptoms or the platelet count. Second-line therapy includes either rituximab or a thrombopoietin receptor agonist (eltrombopag, romiplostim). In a few cases, when second-line therapy alone is insufficient to control the disease, a combination of therapies is required to control the symptoms and platelet count. Here, we present a case of a 41-year-old man with refractory ITP who did not respond to first-line treatment with either steroids or IVIG or a combination of the two, and also did not respond to eltrombopag alone and required a combination of eltrombopag and rituximab to control his disease.