Successful use of Eltrombopag in a patient with refractory HIV-associated Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Abstract

Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) is not uncommon in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. This entity can be recurrent to standard therapy, which includes corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). In immunocompetent patients with ITP, Eltrombopag, a thrombopoetin receptor agonist (TRA), has proven to be save and useful for increasing platelet counts and for treating patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated thrombocytopenia that need an interferon-based therapy. Safety and efficacy data with the use of TRAs in HIV-associated ITP are scarce, being a non-authorized indication. We report our one-year experience with Eltrombopag for treating a severe and refractory HIV-associated ITP.