Dapsone for paediatric chronic immune thrombocytopenia: Short report from a tertiary centre in South India.

ABSTRACT

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) resolves in most children within 3-12 months of diagnosis. Chronic ITP affects 10%-20% of patients, some of whom require treatment. Several second-line agents are efficacious in this group of patients. This paper describes our experience of using dapsone as a single second-line agent in children with chronic ITP. One hundred and three children with chronic ITP were seen at our centre from January 2012 to December 2016. Forty-five children met the inclusion criteria and received dapsone; 17 (37.8%) were boys; and 28 (62.2%) were girls. Early response to dapsone was seen in 37.8% of patients. The median duration of long-term follow-up was 50 months, and at least a partial response was seen in 64.4% of the patients. Dapsone offers good initial response rates and sustained remission in paediatric chronic ITP, comparable to other therapeutic agents available.