Autoimmune thrombocytopenia in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

1 Department of Medicine I, Division of Hematology and Hemostaseology and 2 Oncology 3 Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Correspondence: Alexander Hauswirth, Department of Medicine I, Division of Haematology and Haemostaseology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, A 1090 Währingergürtel 18– 20, Austria. E-mail: alexander.hauswirth{at}meduniwien.ac.at Autoimmune thrombocytopenia is a common immunehematologic complication in non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas and may complicate the treatment. We analyzed an original series from our institute as well as published cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia) associated with autoimmune thrombocytopenia with regard to demographic factors, prevalence in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma subtypes and treatment outcome. The male/female ratio is 1.75. Half of the cases occurred prior to diagnosis of lymphoma. Chemotherapy is the best treatment in many non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenia compared with standard treatment of autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Splenectomy is effective in splenic marginal zone lymphoma. Autoimmune thrombocytopenia in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas is potentially life-threatening and difficult to treat. Key words: autoimmune thrombocytopenias, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.