Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Immune-mediated low platelets in four cats and treatment challenges
By Bianco, Domenico et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2008·Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Presumed primary immune-mediated thrombocytopenia in four cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Four cats were diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called primary immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (pIMT), which caused them to have very low platelet counts. The cats showed no other underlying health issues, but their condition was severe enough that one cat had to be euthanized due to bleeding in the lungs. The other three cats experienced frequent relapses and developed diabetes from long-term treatment with corticosteroids. Unfortunately, their response to the common treatment with prednisolone was poor, suggesting that other immunomodulatory drugs might be needed for better management of this condition.
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Abstract
Feline primary immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (pIMT) is a rare hematological disorder. Platelet-bound antibody assays for cats have variable specificity and sensitivity and are not widely available. Diagnosis of pIMT is made on the basis of exclusion of other identifiable causes of thrombocytopenia and the response to immunosuppressive therapy. This report describes four cats with severe thrombocytopenia and no detectable underlying disease. One cat was euthanased because of pulmonary hemorrhage, while the other cats had frequent relapses, two of these cats developed diabetes mellitus due to long-term corticosteroid therapy. In these cats IMT had a chronic course and responded poorly to therapy with prednisolone. Alternative immunomodulatory drugs may be considered in the treatment of feline IMT.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18339567/