Evidence-Based Mini-Review: Is Indium-Labeled Autologous Platelet Scanning Predictive of Response to Splenectomy in Patients With Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia?

Clinical scenario: An otherwise healthy 25-year-old woman returns to your office for management of chronic primary immune thrombocytopenia. She was diagnosed 6 months earlier and continues to require prednisone 15 mg daily and periodic infusions of intravenous immunoglobulin to maintain a hemostatic platelet count. You discuss second-line treatment options, including splenectomy. The patient asks if there are any means by which to predict likelihood of response to splenectomy. You have heard about the use of indium-labeled autologous platelet scanning for this purpose and wonder what the evidence shows.