comparison of the therapeutic effect of anti-d ig and ivig in children with acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura attending a children’s medical center: a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial

Background: this study aimed at comparing the therapeutic effect of anti-d immunoglobulin (anti-d ig) and intravenous immunoglobulin (ivig) in children with acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (itp). methods: this randomized double-blind, controlled clinical trial was conducted on 98 children attending a children’s medical center during year 2008. the selected participants were allocated to ivig and anti-d ig groups using the balanced-block randomization method. the platelet count, hemoglobin level, and side effects of the medications were evaluated on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after drug injection. results: after drug injection, the platelet count increased in both groups (p < 0.001) yet there was no difference between the 2 groups (p > 0.05). the hemoglobin level also decreased after injection in both groups (p < 0.001) and the decrease was similar in both groups (p > 0.05). regarding the ability of the drugs to increase the platelet count, 56% of the patients in the anti-d ig group and 52% of the children in the ivig groups had platelet counts of more than 20 000 during the 24 hours after drug administration with no difference between the 2 groups (p = 0.836). the incidence of drug adverse effects, including fever and chills (4.1% in the anti-d group versus 10.4% in the ivig group), severe hemolysis (4.5% in the anti d group versus 0% in the ivig group) and headache (6.25% in the anti-d group versus 4.1% in the ivig group), had no significant difference between the two groups (p > 0.05). conclusions: intravenous immunoglobulin and anti-d have similar effectiveness in the treatment of children with acute itp. considering the fewer side effects of anti-d, it may be a suitable replacement for ivig in itp patients.