A favourable effect of long-term alpha-interferon therapy in refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

We successfully treated two patients with refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) with a weekly or monthly administration of alpha-interferon followed by short-course treatment with alpha-interferon. In both cases an increase in platelet count was brought about within 1 week after administration of alpha-interferon and the favourable response in platelet count was sustained over a few years with the weekly or monthly administration of alpha-interferon in the absence of any noticeable side-effects except for fever. So, alpha-interferon therapy seems to be beneficial in some cases of refractory ITP in terms of both remission induction and maintenance therapy.