Assessment of the underlying causes of the immune thrombocytopenia: Ten years experience.

OBJECTIVE: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an immune haematologic disorder causing platelet destruction mediated by anti-platelet antibodies. In this study we aimed to evaluate the clinical and laboratory variables of ITP patients in southeast of Turkey. METHODS: In this retrospective study 167 ITP patients between 2005 and 2015 were evaluated. All patients were screened for immunological parameters including ANA (antinuclear antibodies), anti dsDNA (anti-double-stranded-DNA), ACA(anti-cardiolipin) IgM and IgG, LA (lupus anticoagulants). All patients were screened for Helicobacter pylori, HBsAg (Hepatitis B surface antigen), anti-HCV (hepatitis C virus antibody), and anti-HIV ½ (HIV antibody) and brucellosis.. RESULTS: Among the patients, 50 (29.9%) patients were male, 117 (70.1%) were female. The age range of patients was 18-86 (mean 38.16±14). In 56 patients (33.5%) splenectomy was performed. 36 patients (21.6%) were positive for ANA, 5 (3%) were positive for anti dsDNA, 14 (8.4%) for ACA Ig G, and 14 (8.4%) patients for ACA IgM. LA was tested in 165 patients and 30 (18%) patients were positive for LA. Microbiologic evaluation was as follows: 16 patients (9.6%) were positive for HbsAg, 109 (65.3%) positive for Anti-HBs, 5 positive for anti-HCV (3%), 56 (33.5%) patients were positive for Helicobacter pylori antigen, 5 (2.9%) for Brucella and one patient was positive for anti-HIV ½. CONCLUSIONS: Immune thrombocytopenia patients have to be evaluated according to their demographic characteristics and laboratory results. Secondary causes of ITP were HIV, HCV, Helicobacter pylori, brucellosis, tuberculosis, and autoimmune diseases in our region. Management of ITP patients can change in different regions.

Prognostic Factors and Intensive Care Outcome in Post-Transplant Phase of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: Intensive Care Outcome in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Introduction: To identify new clinical and biologic parameters associated with short-term survival in allogeneic or autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) during their post-transplant period. Materials and methods: 40 patients who were admitted to the ICU in our center during their post-transplant period were evaluated retrospectively between Jan 2014 - Jun 2021. Baseline patient characteristics before the transplant, reasons for ICU admissions, laboratory and clinical findings, supportive treatment in ICU and short-term survival were analyzed. Results: We found 8.8% ICU admission rate in all patient group (n = 450). Mortality rate of the patients who were admitted to ICU was 75%. Invasive mechanic ventilation, need for vasopressor, heart rate was significantly different between survivor and non-survivor group (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, p = 0.004). Elevated INR was associated with poor survival on ICU (p = 0.033). APACHE II score was an independent predictor of ICU mortality (p = 0.045). Conclusion: Despite the recent advances in transplant conditioning protocols, prophylaxis strategies and improvements of management in ICU, overall survival for HSCT patients in ICU is still poor. In this study INR level was described as a new prognostic factor in ICU for first time in the literature.