Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Therapeutic effect of the combination of eltrombopag and low-dose hormone in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia

Chaoqi Yan¹, Qing Len¹, Zhen Ji¹, Yin Wu¹, Daohua Ning¹, Lijun Zhang²

¹Department of Hematology, Central Hospital of Anshan City in Liaoning Province, Anshan 114000, China; ²Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110000, Liaoning Province, China.

For correspondence:- Lijun Zhang Email: zbx0tg@163.com

Accepted: 21 December 2022 Published: 31 January 2023

Citation: Yan C, Len Q, Ji Z, Wu Y, Ning D, Zhang L. Therapeutic effect of the combination of eltrombopag and low-dose hormone in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(1):183-187 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i1.25

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the clinical effect and side effects of early addition of small-dose eltrombopag in initial treatment of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) patients with decreased platelet count and hormone reduction, and patients with persistent ITP.

Methods: Thirty ITP patients newly diagnosed with poor hormonal levels were recruited, along with 36 patients with persistent ITP. The ITP patients were given prednisone in combination with eltrombopag. Blood routine tests, blood pressure, blood sugar, liver and kidney function, and serum ion levels were monitored every two weeks. Adverse events were recorded at 2, 4, and 8 weeks after eltrombopag treatment.

Results: After treatment for 2, 4, and 8 weeks, there was obvious effectiveness in 45.0, 39.4, and 40.9 % of patients, respectively, while effectiveness was good in 22.7, 37.9, and 50 % of patients, respectively. Treatment was ineffective in 31.8, 22.7, and 9.1 % of patients, respectively. In the 8th week, 15 patients (22.7 %) had to use prednisone at a dose of more than 20 mg/day to keep their platelet level above 30 x 109/L, while 7 patients (10.6 %) stopped using prednisone completely. Moreover, 4 patients (6.1 %) had their platelet counts maintained above 30 x 109/L after stopping the use of eltrombopag for more than 2 weeks.

Conclusion: The combined use of eltrombopag and low-dose hormone is an effective treatment for ITP patients. It produces only a slight side effect, and it is affordable. A larger population study will be required to validate these findings of this new therapeutic option.

Keywords: Eltrombopag, Primary immune thrombocytopenia, Therapeutic effect, Drug toxicity