Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy of immune thrombocytopenia.

High dose intravenous gamma globulin has been used in the therapy of immune thrombocytopenia with variable success. Nine non-splenectomized patients with immune thrombocytopenia (8 ITP, 1 Evans syndrome) were treated with IV IgG. One patient with ITP and the case of Evans syndrome had chronic disease, and the others had acute ITP. All patients had been pretreated with steroids with variable response. The patient with chronic ITP and the one with Evans syndrome responded completely to IgG; remission has lasted for 18 months in both. Two patients with acute ITP responded fully to IgG, but one relapsed after 8 months and the other was lost to follow-up after 1 month. Two patients with acute ITP had partial response to IgG, which could be maintained off steroids in one and on a low dose of steroids in the other. Three patients with acute ITP had no response at all to IgG. High dose IV IgG is useful in selected cases of acute as well as chronic ITP, and previous response to steroids increases the likelihood of response. Splenectomy is not a prerequisite for response.

Acquired haemophilia.

Two cases of acquired haemophilia A are described. Neither had history of excessive bleeding in the past following operative procedures and both presented with spontaneous bruising as a result of F. VIII:C deficiency due to production of anti-F. VIII:C antibodies. The antibody titre of one case remained unchanged after 4 weeks of therapy with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide. No attempt was made to treat the second case as the antibody titre was very high.

Iron loading anaemias.

Iron loading anaemias are characterized by anaemia, high serum iron, transferrin saturation and ferritin values, and haemosiderin deposits in parenchymal cells and reticuloendothelial tissue with or without organ dysfunction. Sideroblastic anaemias and congenital dyserythropoietic anaemias (CDA) are important types of iron loading anaemias. Two cases of sideroblastic anaemia and five cases of CDA type I are presented as prototypes of iron loading anaemias. Increased gastrointestinal absorption of iron remains the main mechanism of iron loading in these anaemias. Phlebotomy can be used to reduce the iron load in those with mild or moderate anaemia, whereas desferrioxamine can be used to chelate excessive iron in all cases irrespective of severity of anaemia.

Effect of iron deficiency on renal function.

Renal function was assessed by determining three hour creatinine clearance (THCC) values in 20 patients (13 males, seven females; age 16-55 years) of nutritional iron deficiency anaemia. Mean transferrin saturation was 4.6% (SD 2.3). Haemoglobin and THCC were determined twice at the interval of three days before therapy. All patients received total dose iron-dextran intravenously. Three days after therapy, haemoglobin and THCC were determined again. Paired 't' test was used to determine the significance of the difference. There was no significant difference between the two pretherapy mean haemoglobin values (6.1 +/- 3.5 g/dl and 5.6 +/- 4.5 g/dl; p greater than 0.2), and the two pretherapy mean THCC values (67.2 +/- 36.9 ml/min and 70.3 +/- 22.8 ml/min; p greater than 0.5). There was no significant difference (p greater than 0.5) between pre-and post-therapy mean haemoglobin levels (6.6 +/- 2.2 g/dl). The difference between the pre-therapy and post-therapy THCC (95.3 +/- 34.0 ml/min) was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). It is concluded on the basis of these results that renal function as measured by THCC is impaired in iron deficiency anaemia, and it improves significantly within three days of total dose intravenous iron-dextran therapy when there is no significant increase in haemoglobin value. This is likely to represent the effect of iron at the tissue level independent of the anaemia.