Among patients in Brazil with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), there was little platelet recovery after the eradication of Heliobacter pylori infection, a new study showed.1
Of the patients in the study successfully treated for H. pylori, only 30% had increased platelet counts at 6 months. However, the effect on platelet counts remained for at least as 1-year follow-up, according to the study.
“These results suggest that treating H. pylori infection might be worthwhile in a subset of chronic ITP patients,” they wrote.
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The small study included 28 patients with chronic ITP. The majority of patients (78.5%) were H. pylori-positive, a rate similar to that found in the general population, the authors said. Of the 22 positive patients, 15 were treated for the infection; 86% had the infection cleared with standard triple therapy.
At 6 months, 4 of 13 patients (30%) had an increase in platelet count.
Previous studies had suggested that differences in clinical findings between responders and nonresponders might be due to baseline characteristics; however, the researchers found that platelet response was not linked with mean baseline platelet count, duration of chronic ITP, gender, age, previous use of medication, or splenectomy.
Reference
- De Castro Barbosa AM, Ribeiro RA, Silva CISM, et al. Platelet count response to Helicobaster pylori eradication for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura in northeastern Brazil. Hematol Transfus Cell Ther. 2018;40:12-17.
