What’s New in the Management of Chronic Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia in Adults and the Use of Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonists

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder typified by a platelet count below thenormal range ( 100 × 10 9 /l). Clinical manifestations arerelated to the severity of thrombocytopenia and includepurpura and bleeding episodes. In the past, ‘acute ITP’described a self-limited form of disease (e.g. secondary toviral illness) and ‘chronic ITP’ thrombocytopenia lastingfor more than 6 months. In the absence of reliable predictive clinical or laboratory parameters of disease duration,the term ‘newly diagnosed ITP’ is now adopted for allcases at diagnosis. The term ‘persistent ITP’ was introduced for patients with disease between 3 and 12 monthsfrom diagnosis. This category includes patients notachieving remission or maintaining their response afterhaving stopped treatment. The term ‘chronic ITP’ is usedfor patients with ITP lasting for more than 12 months.