Refractory autoimmune thrombocytopenia: response to antiplatelet therapy

Our patient first developed marked thrombocytopenia associated with vaginal bleeding and diffuse purpura aged 30 years in August, 1973, in Israel. She was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and treated with prednisone, chloroquine, and azathioprine. Her condition was characterised by arthralgia, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia over the subsequent 8 years; we first saw the patient in 1981, when splenectomy was done for severe thrombocytopenia (platelets