Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Pediatric Severe Immune Thrombocytopenia: A Case Report and Literature Review

Treatment of severe Immune Thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) accompanied by life-threatening bleeding events is challenging and a combination of treatment measures should be undertaken to rapidly increase the platelet count. Herein, we report a case of severe ITP in a seven-year-old boy who suffered from massive bleeding which was totally unresponsive to conventional therapeutic interventions. Since the patient was still symptomatic with severe thrombocytopenia after splenectomy, the patient underwent plasma exchange (PE) which was successful. To best of our knowledge this is the first case of severe ITP in children managed with plasma exchange due to unresponsiveness to standard treatments and splenectomy.