Efficacy of thrombopoietin receptor agonists versus rituximab in non‐responsive immune thrombocytopenia—A single centre retrospective analysis

Abstract

SummaryManagement of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) beyond initial glucocorticoid therapy is challenging. In this retrospective single‐centre cohort study, we compared all ITP patients relapsed or non‐responsive to glucocorticoid therapy treated with either continuous TPO‐RAs (n = 35) or rituximab induction (n = 20) between 2015 and 2022. While both groups showed high initial complete response rates (CR, 68.6 vs. 80.0%, ns), the overall rate of progression to the next therapy was higher after time‐limited rituximab (75.0 vs. 42.9%), resulting in a lower relapse‐free survival (median 16.6 vs. 25.8 months, log‐rank; p < 0.05). We conclude that both treatments show similar initial efficacy and their ideal duration of therapy warrants further investigation.