Library of Articles

Dear Visitor,

These pages are currently under construction while the ITP Foundation uploads numerous articles to our Library.  Please excuse the appearance, while looking through the articles below.

Please visit again soon for what we anticipate to be an extremely comprehensive and premiere source for ITP education.  Thank you.

We hope that the various resources provided for your reference in this section will help in your quest for more information about ITP. This information may potentially help you and your child's doctor devise an ITP management strategy. We would like to emphasize that information available from the resources above is for the purpose of reference only.

Library of Articles about ITP

Antibodies Redux - Platelet Antibody Testing Receives Tarnished Rep 
Platelet antibody testing in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) has acquired a somewhat tarnished reputation. Measurements of platelet-associated immunoglobulin, while sufficiently sensitive to have a high negative predictive value, also carry a rate of false positive results so high as to be of no clinical use.

Anti-D Inhibits Erythrophagocytosis
Adult chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder manifested by thrombocytopenia from the effects of antiplatelet autoantibodies and Tlymphocyte–mediated platelet cytotoxicity. Multiple studies show that corticosteroid treatment and splenectomy, alone or together, increase platelet counts to safe levels in 60% to 70% of patients. However, there is little information on the outcomes of ITP patients refractory to splenectomy.

Biology & Treatment of ITP: What's Next??
Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is the result of 2 pathologic processes: loss of tolerance to self-antigen accompanied by sustained autoantibody production, and antibody effector mechanisms that destroy platelets in excess of their production. There is a considerable challenge to hematologists treating the chronic, severe, refractory subset of patients. IVIG has many putative mechanisms of action in treating ITP.

Helicobacter Pylori in Children
Helicobacter pylori gastritis has been associated with autoimmune diseases, including idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).1,2 It is well known that the prevalence of H pylori infection is greatly variable from country to country, has decreased over the last decades in industrialized countries, and that its frequency increases with age. Recently, Veneri et al3 suggested that the HLA class II allele pattern might identify groups of ITP patients with different incidences of H pylori infection and, possibly, with different pathogeneses of thrombocytopenia.

MMR Vaccine May Raise Risk of Blood Disorder

NEW YORK - 3/10/2008 (REUTERS): Results of a study suggest a link between Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine given in the second year of life and an increased risk of immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

To continue reading about the MMR Study, click here...

http://www.reutershealth.com

ICIS Reports on ITP Activities    

A standing room-only audience attended the December 4 breakfast meeting of the Intercontinental Childhood ITP Study Group (ICIS) in San Diego.  Held to coincide with the 46th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the ICIS Meeting attracted physicians, researchers, nurses and other medical professionals with an interest in ITP.

Dr. Thomas Kuhne opened the meeting with comments on ICIS studies, and Dr. Paul Imbach, who serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the ITP Foundation and is Principal Investigator with the ICIS, reported on the ICIS Board meeting.  Biologist Juliet Fong discussed the status of the PARC-ITP (Pediatric and Adult Intercontinental Registry for Chronic ITP) Study.

To continue reading about the ICIS Group, click here...
http://www.itpfoundation.org/upload/articles/ICIS at ASH.revised.doc