Primary immune thrombocytopenia. Treatment and recommendations for the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disorder characterized by low platelet count as a result of platelet destruction and impaired platelet production. The lack of randomized trials on the management of IPT has resulted in significant controversy and great variation in clinical practice for its diagnosis and treatment. In addition to this, the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses a series of dilemmas for the study and treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia, including the advantages and disadvantages of therapeutic options standard for newly diagnosed or relapsed and chronic IPT, in each of the management approaches: observation, corticosteroids, IV immunoglobulin, anti-D immunoglobulin, rituximab, splenec-tomy and thrombopoietin receptor agonists, as well as recognition of the challenges posed to the management of patients with IPT with hemorrhagic manifestations and thrombotic risk observed in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. For this reason, the present work aims to capture and offer recommendations and guidelines to follow in both children and adults with and without COVID-19, given the risk and benefit in each scenario, based on consensus of experts and already established guidelines (on all for adult patients) for the management, treatment and follow-up of IPT in the context of the current pandemic.