Diagnosis and Management of Immune Thrombocytopenia in the Era of Thrombopoietin Mimetics

The recognition of that patients with Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) have functional thrombopoietin deficiency and decreased platelet production due to immune-mediated megakaryocytic injury has challenged the traditional view of this disease as predominantly a disorder of antibody-mediated platelet destruction. The therapy of chronic refractory ITP has been transformed by the approval of the thrombopoietin minetics, romiplostim and eltrombopag, which have shown remarkable efficacy in randomized trials. The use of these agents earlier in the disease course after failure of corticosteroid therapy remains controversial. In this article, we review the current data on the efficacy and safety of thrombopoietin receptor agonists and discuss other therapies as well as diagnostic work up of ITP.