• Giovanna Russo, Vito Miraglia, Francesca Branciforte, Sofia Maria Rosaria Matarese, Marco Zecca, Gianni Bisogno, Emilia Parodi, Giovanni Amendola, Paola Giordano, Momcilo Jankovic, Annalisa Corti, Margherita Nardi, Piero Farruggia, Laura Battisti, Carlo Baronci, Giovanni Palazzi, Fabio Tucci, Stefania Ceppi, Bruno Nobili, Ugo Ramenghi, Domenico De Mattia, Lucia Notarangelo, and AIEOP-ITP Study Group.
• Centro di Riferimento di Ematologia ed Oncologia Pediatrica, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy. diberuss@unict.it
• Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2011 Feb 1;56(2):273-8.

BackgroundThe eradication of Helicobacter pylori has been associated with remission of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in approximately half of eradicated patients. Data on children are limited to small case series.ProcedureChildren from 16 centers in Italy, who were less than 18 years of age and diagnosed with chronic ITP (cITP), were screened for H. pylori infection. Positive patients underwent standard triple therapy with amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and omeprazole. The eradication response was defined as follows: complete response, platelet (PLT) count ≥ 150 × 10(9) /L; partial response, PLT count of at least 50 × 10(9) /L; no response, PLT count <50 × 10(9) /L.ResultsOf 244 screened patients, 50 (20%) had H. pylori infection, 37 of which received eradication therapy and completed follow-up. Eradication was successful in 33/37 patients (89%). PLT recovery was demonstrated in 13/33 patients after eradication (39%), whereas spontaneous remission was observed in 17/166 (10%) H. pylori-negative patients (P < 0.005). Responders more often required second line eradication (9/13), whereas a second cycle was required in 3/20 non-responders (P < 0.005).ConclusionsAmong the large cohort of patients, those who underwent successful H. pylori eradication showed a significantly higher PLT response. Therefore, it may be appropriate to look for H. pylori and eventually eradicate it in children with cITP.Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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