Treatment of Secondary Immune Thrombocytopenia with Tacrolimus

Case Series

Volume 3, Issue 9 (September Issue)

Treatment of Secondary Immune Thrombocytopenia with Tacrolimus

Jun Takeoka¹, Tomomi Oka², Kyoka Fujita¹, Satoshi Kurahashi¹, Naohiro Toda^1,4, Toshiyuki Komiya^1,4 and Masaaki Fujita^3,5*

¹Division of Nephrology, Kansai Electric Power Hospital, Osaka, Japan

²Division of Hematology, Kansai Electric Power Hospital, Osaka, Japan

³Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kansai Electric Power Hospital, Osaka, Japan

⁴Division of Renal Disease and Blood Purification, Kansai Electric Power Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan

⁵Department of Infectious Diseases, The Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Kitano Hospital, Osaka, Japan

^*Corresponding author: Masaaki Fujita, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kansai Electric Power Hospital, Osaka, Japan, 2-1-7 Fukushima, Fukushima-ku, Osaka, 553-0003 Japan. E-mail: fujita.masaaki@e3.kepco.co.jp

Received: October 25, 2021; Accepted: November 02, 2021; Published: November 14, 2021

Citation: Fujita M, Takeoka J, Oka T, et al. Treatment of Secondary Immune Thrombocytopenia with Tacrolimus. Clin Image Case Rep J. 2021; 3(9): 189.

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Abstract

Immune thrombocytopenia is an acquired thrombocytopenia caused by antiplatelet autoantibodies. Corticosteroids is used as first-line therapy. In the cases of refractory with corticosteroids, splenectomy, rituximab and thrombopoietin receptor agonists are tried as second-line treatments. However, there are some concerns such as serious infections, thrombosis or bone marrow fibrosis although these treatments have high efficacy rate. We herein described three cases of secondary immune thrombocytopenia with treated with tacrolimus with a brief review of literature. Tacrolimus may have therapeutic potential for secondary immune thrombocytopenia, particularly in patients with low complement levels and/or non-responders to H. pylori eradication therapy.

Keywords: Immune thrombocytopenia; Tacrolimus; Helicobacter pylori; Sjogren’s syndrome; Systemic lupus erythematosus