Is less more? Intravenous immunoglobulin for pediatric immune thrombocytopenia.

OBJECTIVES

Treatment of pediatric immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is guided by the risk of bleeding. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is one of the first-line therapy options for new-onset pediatric ITP. However, the exact optimal dose of IVIg has not been determined.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included all hospitalized children with newly diagnosed ITP receiving IVIg as first-line therapy during 2010-2020. We compared the safety and efficacy of two common IVIg dose regimens, 1 and 2 g/kg. Outcomes were short and long-term treatment responses and adverse events to the different doses.

RESULTS

A total of 168 children were included in our cohort. Eighty-two children were treated with 1 g/kg of IVIg and 86 with 2 g/kg. There was no difference in sustained response (platelet count > 20 × 10, > 14 days) between the groups (74.3% vs 76.7%, respectively,  = 0.72) and maximal platelet counts following treatment ( = 0.44). No difference was found regarding the percentage of chronic ITP between the two groups (24.4% in the 1 g/kg group as compared to 17.4% in the 2 g/kg group;  = 0.34). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated there was no effect of the IVIg dose on treatment failure and development of chronic ITP. As anticipated, 47.7% of adverse events were in the 2 g/kg group and 32.9% in the 1 g/kg group, with borderline statistical significance ( = 0.06).

CONCLUSION

The initial treatment of newly diagnosed pediatric ITP using a 1 g/kg IVIg regimen may give comparable results to the double dose of 2 g/kg in attaining a prolonged safe hemostatic threshold, without impacting the incidence of chronic disease.