Literature reports of dapsone in immune thrombocytopenia.

<p>Literature reports of dapsone in immune thrombocytopenia.</p

Efficacy and safety of dapsone as second line therapy for adult immune thrombocytopenia: A retrospective study of 42 patients

<div><p>Dapsone is recommended as a second line therapy in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), but is underused because of its potential side effects. The medical charts of 42 ITP patients treated with dapsone (100 mg/day) were retrospectively reviewed in order to assess its efficacy and safety in daily clinical practice. The overall response rate was 54.8% (n = 22, with a complete response in 38.1%) with a median time to response of 29 days (24–41 days). Patients with complete response had shorter disease duration whereas no difference was observed between responders and non-responders regarding age, sex or previous treatments received. Importantly, after dapsone withdrawal, a sustained response was observed in 5 patients, representing 12% of the whole cohort. Twenty percent of patients (n = 8) relapsed on therapy after 8.1 (6.5–13.6) months. Side effects occurred in 31% (n = 13) of patients, and required dapsone withdrawal in 22% (n = 9) or dosage reduction in 10% (n = 4) of the cases. Side effects resolved in all but one case. Overall, these data support dapsone as an interesting second line therapy in ITP, with a good safety and efficacy profile at a low cost.</p></div

Platelet count before and after 4 weeks dapsone was started, in responders (n = 23) and non-responder patients (n = 19).

<p><i>P</i>-value derived by Wilcoxon matched pairs test.</p

Clinical characteristics of patients treated with dapsone.

<p>Clinical characteristics of patients treated with dapsone.</p

Literature reports of dapsone in immune thrombocytopenia.

<p>Literature reports of dapsone in immune thrombocytopenia.</p

Comparison of patients according to dapsone-related side effects.

<p>Comparison of patients according to dapsone-related side effects.</p

Outcome on dapsone therapy.

<p>Outcome on dapsone therapy.</p

Flowchart of dapsone-treated patients.

<p>Follow-up is given by median (1^st-3^rd interquartile).</p

Flowchart of the study.

<p>Flowchart of the study.</p

Kaplan-Meier plots of the risk of disease relapse following rituximab in 31 IgG4-RD responding patients.

<p>Kaplan-Meier plots of the risk of disease relapse following rituximab in 31 IgG4-RD responding patients.</p