Search

A program for care of women with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) with the recommendation to avoid treatment if platelets were >20 × 109/l during pregnancy, with the target level 100 × 109/l at delivery, was introduced. Treatment should be given with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or corticosteroids. Out of 75 pregnancies with ITP, 39 percent were treated and the treatment period was shorter with IVIG. Blood loss at delivery was similar as the reference population. Epidural analgesia was given in only 17 percent of the vaginal deliveries. Twenty-three percent of the infants had platelet counts less than 50 × 109/l during the first days after birth. If the women had prior neonatal trombocytopenia 63 percent got a child with thrombocytopenia and 40 percent of those with platelets <20 × 109/l during pregnancy had a child with thrombocytopenia. Multidisciplinary care of pregnant women with ITP including obstetricians, hematologists and neonatologists is recommended.